


Strangers in the Night

by slafocka



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Betty/Toni kiss, F/M, Flashbacks, Fluff, Forbidden Love, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Light Smut, Northside Betty, Romance, Secret Relationship, Strangers to Lovers, but also to friends, prejudices, serpent Jughead
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2019-01-31
Packaged: 2019-09-05 03:48:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 38,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16803046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slafocka/pseuds/slafocka
Summary: And with a fall of the first leaf, summer was over once again. The air would get colder, the days would get shorter and the real life would come creeping back up to replace a blissful summer daydream. The school would start once again; and oh, how  that would change everything. As if the summer had never happened, as if they were strangers again. As if the two of them didn’t spend the hottest days of year sharing shade by Sweetwater river, stealing kisses from each other and exploring the endless possibilities of the mysterious world.With that blow of a wind and the fall of that first leaf, all of it would disappear.// on an indefinite hiatus, sorry //





	1. Chapter 1

“… And then we just flew all the way to Paris because this girl I went to primary school with was throwing a party and we could not miss that!” Veronica had been going on for hours about all the adventures of her summer, one crazier than the previous. Betty had been sipping her already third vanilla milkshake, trying to listen to her best friend whom she hadn’t seen for months, but she just couldn’t focus, which may have been due to the fact that her best friend had been talking nonstop for past few hours.

But if she was being completely honest with herself, it may have had something to do with a certain raven-haired boy standing outside Pop’s with his friends.

The way he casually leaned against his motorcycle in his worn-out leather jacket, made her mouth water more than any milkshake ever would. She wondered if he thought about her as well. If every time he looked at his motorcycle the picture of her, splayed across it naked crossed his mind.

It certainly did for her.

“Betty! Are you even listening to me?”

“Sorry, what?” Betty shook her head, forcing that picture out of her mind and turning back to Veronica. But it was too late, as her best friend has already noticed what she was doing.

“Were you just staring at Jones?” she asked her immediately, intrigued by the opportunity to learn juicy gossip about hot guys.

She was Veronica after all, there was nothing to escape her eye, especially if it concerned hot guys or juicy gossip. Or preferably both.

“Hmm? No, I wasn’t. I just zoned out, sorry,” Betty denied, although knowing very well that there was no fooling her. Therefore, she needed to try a different approach. “Are you excited for school?”

“Betty, dear, stop changing the subject. Why were you staring at him?”

Betty shifted anxiously in her seat. It wasn't that she didn't trust Veronica or that she didn't want to tell her. Of course she had been dying to talk to her best friend about the summer of her life, about the boy who she had met in secret almost every day.. She wanted to know her opinion, get advice from her, she craved the support only her best friend could give.

But she also knew Veronica. She knew she was the same as everybody else in this town, vision blurred with prejudices and stereotypes. Betty was the perfect girl-next-door, with polished clothes, tight ponytail and all-teeth-wide smile. She had no business eyeing somebody from the Southside, especially not from Serpents. Especially not the Serpents leader. No matter how she felt about him, no matter how close they got, they just did not belong together.

“I was just wondering, why they hang out here. Don’t they have somewhere to be?” That was all she managed to say, before turning to look at Veronica who shrugged.

“Well, apparently, they have.” Her answer was followed by a ring of Pop’s bell, indicating opening of the doors.

Betty didn’t think as she turned her head to look at who had entered - her eyes immediately locking with a pair of blue ones. A playful smirk appeared on his lips, one that didn’t quite reach his eyes - no, there was something else there. When she noticed a tip of his tongue escaping his mouth as he ran it along his lower lip , she realised what it was - lust.

She turned her back to him as quickly as possible, murmuring to Veronica, who was already nose-deep in her phone, that she was going to use the bathroom.

The stalls were empty, thank god. She needed a minute to calm her breathing down and was in no mood to get weird looks from strangers.

_Breathe in, hold, and breath out. Repeat._

She couldn’t understand why she got so hot and bothered from seeing a guy that she had hung out with whole summer across the diner? What was wrong with her?

She turned the tap on, spraying the cold water on her wrists, a technique that she had learned long time ago to calm herself down. Due to the noise of running water and soft sound of Frank Sinatra’s voice playing from the speakers she didn’t hear the door open. It was only when she looked at herself in the mirror, staring at her reflection, that she had noticed a figure leaning with his back against the door.

She spun around in shock.

“Fancy seeing you here,” Jughead said his voice low, making her weak in her knees.

She gripped sides of the sink so hard that her knuckles almost turned white as she tried to steady herself, her legs trembling with desire.

How did she allow him to have this effect on her?

“I could say the same to you,” she managed to get out of herself, “what are you doing here?”

“Oh, I was craving a _vanilla_ milkshake,” he whispered sweetly. Oh, the way it rolled of his tongue, it did things to her body.

Summer is over, she reminded herself. School was starting tomorrow, whatever they had was over; ~~they~~ she needed to move past it.

Completely ignoring the voice in her and giving in to her desires she said, “Well, you’ve come to the right place then.”

As she stepped towards him, she felt as if she was still free, as if the summer wasn’t coming to a close, as if she still was in charge of her life. She believed in herself, she believed she could do anything she set her mind to - and oh she was going to.

“I certainly did,” he breathed out before their lips crashed together in a bruising kiss.

Heat started to pulse through her body, flooding every inch of it. She let her hands roam over his body freely, exploring each one of his defined muscles, committing them to memory. She felt her back hit the cold of the marble countertop and with a gentle tug of Jug’s hand under her thigh she jumped up between the two sinks and wrapped her legs securely around his waist. She mentally congratulated herself for opting to wear a skirt today instead of jeans as she felt Jughead’s hand snake up her thigh.  
  
“Wait, what if somebody comes in?” Betty managed to ask, breathing heavily.

“Then we better be quick, babydoll,” he answered with a wink, devouring her mouth once again.

Yeah, they better.

***

_“Please, please, please, Betty, I am begging you, please,” her best friend pleaded. He seemed so desperate, but that did not change Betty’s mind._

_“Kevin, I am not coming to a Southside bar with you,” she answered, “can’t you pick up boys on the Northside?”_

_“I wish I could Betts, but I am out of options here - they are all either too crazy or too straight. I need to broaden my horizons.”_

_“If I don’t go with you, will you still go?” Betty asked sighing._

_Kevin smiled. “You know I will and you know how dangerous and irrational it would be.”_

_“Fine,” Betty groaned, giving in, knowing that she had lost the argument before it even began._

_“Thank you! Now, let’s get you dressed appropriately,” he exclaimed and threw himself into her closet, probably in search of something other than her mother’s favourite pastel cardigans._

_It was the first week of summer break and all of their friends had left Riverdale. Veronica was back in New York, on an “internship” at her father’s company (they all really knew that she was there to party and would not work a single day) and Archie had been invited by Josie to join her and the Pussycats on their road trip across America. They would be playing gigs everywhere they went, hoping for some talent-seeker to notice them. She was happy for her friends, they were fulfilling their dreams - it was just that she was stuck in this small town, working a part-time job at Pop’s just to keep herself the least bit sane._

_At least Kevin stayed home for the summer, which was mainly due to the fact that his father’s health which was quickly deteriorating. He never admitted it out loud, but Betty had a feeling that he felt obliged to take care of his dad. However, Kevin did tell her that he was trying to show his dad that he could, “find a nice boy for myself and that not all of them are assholes.”_

_“So I am thinking this?” Kevin said, interrupting her train of thoughts. He was holding a white lacy top with a deep V-neck and a knee-long red velvet skirt. She was pretty sure that shirt would not fit her properly and that it would show way too much, but then she heard Veronica’s words in her mind, “Betty I know you are stuck here for the summer, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it.”_

_“Yeah, sure. But throw me also that belt. And probably some heels?”_

_“Betty Cooper, you are speaking my language!” Kevin laughed, passing her the clothes and waiting for her to change._

_She quickly got dressed and sat in front of her vanity, to put on some makeup - nothing too extra, just a bit of liner, maybe some eyeshadow. As she was about to reach for her trusty pink lipstick, she stopped at her tracks. This night was not the night for the pink perfection._  
_Instead, she searched in the back of her makeup drawer for an unopened tube of red lipstick - fiery kiss._

_When she heard Kevin squeal after applying it, she knew that she had made the right decision._

_They took an Uber to the bar - there was no chance that either of them would be in a state to drive by the end of the night. The bar seemed to be heaving with people - there was at least a dozen of guys standing outside, drinking beer and laughing too loudly. Inside, it was no better and the floor was packed, all of the stools around the bar were taken, but Kevin somehow managed to catch bartender’s attention and order two double tequilas for them._

_“To the best summer,” he shouted, while clinking their glasses together._

_“To the best summer,” Betty repeated, downing the contents of her glass in one go._

_“Let’s dance,” Kevin said, grabbing her hand and dragging her to the dance floor. She didn’t recognise the song that was playing; but it had a nice beat, so she just kept moving to that._

_Few songs later, she was in a mood for more alcohol._

_“Another round?” she shouted into his ear, trying to outshout the loud music. Kevin clearly understood her and nodded, already making his way to the bar. It was her turn to order drinks, so she squeezed herself between two stools and waved her hand, trying to catch the bartender’s attention._

_He noticed her almost instantly._

_Oh, the bartender was certainly hot._

_“What can I get you?” he asked her, propping himself on his forearms. He probably did it to get closer to her, to be able to hear her better, but the movement showcased his muscular arms beautifully._

_Okay Betty, deep breaths._

_“Lady here will have a margarita,” a guy next to her said suddenly, “and another beer for me.”_

_He turned to Betty and winked at her, which made her stomach clench - but not in a good way. In the I-will-throw-up-because-you-are-a-disgusting-pig kind of way. Fortunately, she felt the first round of alcohol already kicking in, so she had enough courage to answer without having to breath through a panic attack._

_“Lady here will have two double tequilas and nothing to do with him,” she said and smiled sweetly at the bartender. He nodded and looked the guy dead into the eye._

_“Get out Jack. Now.” The guy got up and left without another word._

_Betty quickly took his bar stool, so she could rest while waiting for the drinks. She let her eyes roam over the bartender - his messy black hair were a beautiful contrast to his olive skin and dreamy blue eyes. He was dressed in a black shirt with a name tag that contained only one letter - J. From under the sleeve, she could see what looked like the bottom of a snake tattoo, literally snaking up his arm._

_“Thanks for that,” she said after a while, “J.” She gave him a little smile, to which he smiled back._

_“Don’t worry about it. He shows up here every night, tries the same thing every night and gets shut down every night. I don’t know why they are still letting him in if I have to throw him out an hour later,” he shrugged and put the shots in front of her._

_Betty pulled her card from back of her phone case, giving it to him, only for him to shake his head._

_“It’s on me,” he said and pushed the card away._

_“Why?” she asked, “Won’t you get into trouble for giving out free drinks?”_

_“Take it as a compensation for that jerk’s behaviour,” he answered, with a playful smirk appearing on his lips. A little spark had twinkled in his eyes, a lust Betty would say, but she knew better. It must have just been a play of light._

_“Then I guess I owe you one, J,” she said._

_There was that spark again and this time she was sure she hadn’t imagined it._

_“Sure thing, babydoll,” he winked at her. Betty took the shots and left to find Kevin - but she felt his blue eyes piercing into her long after she was lost from his sight._

_***_

“You look great, don’t worry,” Jughead said, while she was checking her appearance in the mirror.

“Well, I don’t want Veronica to notice anything,” Betty shrugged.

“What you don’t want her to see? The post-orgasm glow you are giving out right now? That will be hard to hide,” he chuckled, brushing his fingers up her side. He sneaked a little kiss on her neck, one that sent shivers down her spine.

“Sometimes, I hate you so much,” she said, turning on the tap, to freshen up her face with cold water.

“No, you don’t, Betts,” he said smiling playfully. He opened his mouth as he was about to say something, but the ringing of his phone interrupted him. He quickly checked who was calling, but didn’t pick up.

“I guess that’s my cue to leave. See you around,” He playfully saluted her before taking his leave.

She looked back at herself in the mirror - did she really have post-orgasm glow or was he just messing with her? She touched her cheek - it looked the same as always.

She left the bathroom and headed back to her booth, only to see that Jughead had already joined his friends on the other side of the diner. She turned her eyes away, not wanting to raise any suspicion from Veronica as to why she was staring at him. Again.

When she arrived to back at their booth, she was surprised to find that Kevin had joined them - she hoped that she wasn’t gone long, because even though Veronica would not notice, Kevin certainly would.

“Oh my god B, you won’t believe the gossip Kevin has!” Veronica exclaimed, as Betty sat down to the booth, “by the way, I have just noticed how radiant you look today - your skin is glowing! Tell me your secret girl, what do you use?”

Betty almost choked on her breath, which earned her raised eyebrows from both her best friends.

“You okay?” Kevin asked suspiciously. Betty just nodded, not quite trusting her voice to answer that; she rather chose to take a sip from her milkshake, which had melted while she was gone.  
  
_Great_.

“So, this gossip,” Veronica started again, with the much more important topic than Betty’s glow, “apparently, they are shutting down Southside High and transferring all the students to our school.”

Her mind started to spin… _that would mean…_

“Yeah, basically Riverdale is apparently too small to be able to run 2 high schools, so they are merging them together! And nobody has told us anything! School starts tomorrow! Like excuse me?” Kevin continued, looking outraged.

“Who told you that?” was all Betty could ask. Her mind was running a thousand miles per second, thinking about all the things that would change.

Mainly the fact that she would be spending a lot of time with a certain southsider again.

A lot more than she could survive.

“Josie’s mom told us today, to prepare us for tomorrow. That was a nice way how to end a family dinner,” Kevin answered with an ironic smile on his lips.

She wondered if Jughead knew about it. Would he say anything if he knew? Or would he rather keep silent and pretend as nothing is happening? How would he react to seeing her in school tomorrow? Would he pretend not to know her so he wouldn’t destroy his reputation?

“Do you think that southsiders know about the merge?” Betty asked. It was reasonable question to ask, it had nothing to do with Jughead at all.

“Don’t really think so. Nobody tells them anything, they will probably just go to Southside High tomorrow to find it closed,” Kevin shrugged and then turned to Veronica, “so tell me more about that party in Paris.” And with that, the topic of schools merging was over.

But Betty kept wondering, _what if_ , what if Jughead knew something. She didn’t think it was possible that he had no idea about the merger. Even if the authorities haven’t notified the students, he was a gang leader, he must have known something.

Betty took out her phone and started writing a message.

**B** : Have you heard about Southside High?

She quickly sent it, only to come regret it immediately after. If he had known, he would have told her. If he wanted her to know, he would have told her. She wasn’t his girlfriend, she wasn’t sure if he would even admit to his friends that they are talking, let alone fucking. Not that she would admit it, but the point stood. She put the phone back into her pocket.

She was starting to get tired and a quick glance at the clock revealed that she should start heading home if she wanted to get to sleep at a reasonable hour.

“I am going to head home guys,” Betty said, standing up, “I want to get some sleep before tomorrow. Kev, are you coming?” His house was on her way home from Pop’s, so it made sense for them to go together if he wanted to go as well. She was pretty sure that she saw Kevin’s truck parked outside and a ride would be nicer than a walk for sure.

“I think I am going to stay for a while with V if you don’t mind,” he answered.

“Of course, see you tomorrow.” They said their goodbyes to her and then immersed back to the conversation immediately.

Betty allowed herself a quick glance towards Jughead’s booth only to find it already empty, noting that he didn’t stay very long.

Most of the time he was in Pop’s was spent making her come on the marble countertop in the bathroom. She wondered, what did his friends think - they came inside, then he disappeared for ten minutes only to appear and leave right after that. But it was none of her business.

She made it almost a third of her way home when she heard the familiar roar of an engine. At first she thought he would just speed by her, not acknowledging her presence or anything, but when she heard the bike slow down near her, she couldn’t help but smile to herself.

“You up for a ride, Cooper?” he shouted over the noise of the engine. She looked around the street to make sure nobody saw them and fortunately for her, it was deserted.

“Only if you let me wear your jacket,” she smirked. He stopped the motorcycle next to her.

“Always,” he answered with a sincerity in his voice. He shook it off his shoulders, passing it to her. She slipped her arms into the sleeves, feeling the comforting weight of the leather hugging her, protecting her. It smelled like tobacco, it smelled like a hot summer day. It smelled like Jughead.

“Hold on tight, babydoll,” he said as she sat behind him, hugging him tightly.

As if she needed to be reminded. She had ridden on back of his motorcycle too many times to count, she knew the drill. When she felt the machine come alive under her thighs and adrenaline spread through her veins, those were the moments when she felt the most alive.

They didn’t go far - just to the beginning of the Fox Forest, where they could talk without worrying about being seen, where they had as much privacy as one can get in this small town.

“Have you brought me here to take advantage of me?” Betty asked with a playful smirk, as he got off the motorcycle. She stayed on it, enjoying the feel of leather against her bare thighs, not knowing when she would get the next opportunity.

“Didn’t you get enough in Pop’s?” he asked with a clear challenge in his voice.

“Maybe,” Betty shrugged, sticking out her tongue at him. She knew that she was teasing him; sitting on his bike in his leather jacket, with legs spread widely apart and her skirt ridden up so high that it covered basically nothing. She could see the effort it took him not to jump her right there in that moment.

“I actually wanted to talk,” he said, but his voice sounded a bit strangled.

“Yeah?”

“I have heard some whisperings,” he started, “about Southside High. Nothing official, of course, but there is definitely something going on. You know something?”

“They are shutting it down,” Betty sighed, looking him straight into eyes. He didn’t seem surprised, so she continued, “apparently it has something to do with Riverdale being too small for 2 high schools. They want to transfer everybody into Riverdale High.”

“How long have you known?” Jughead asked, sounding a little annoyed.

“Kevin told me just now,” she said defensively, “you think I wouldn’t have told you if I knew?”

“I don’t know, would you have?” he asked pointedly. Betty certainly did not expect this tone.

“Are you serious right now Juggie?” Betty shook her head, “I don’t care that we won’t tell our friends about us, I don’t care that this all has an expiration date. I don’t even care if you want to go and fuck somebody else tomorrow, because it’s not summer anymore. You aren’t _mine_ anymore. But if you think I don’t care about you to the point where I wouldn’t share something like that with you, then you’ve got another thing coming.” She didn’t know where she found the courage to say all of that, but his tone just sparked something in her. He had no right to talk to her like that, after all, she wasn’t _his_ anymore either.

He held her gaze for a moment and then sighed, pulling her into his arms.

“Sorry about that Betts, Sweet Pea pissed me off on top of this and I just overreacted. I know you would tell me.”

They stood like that, wrapped in each others embrace for a moment before he said, “Thanks for not letting me be shitty to you.”

“Well, somebody has to teach you manners, you can’t go around snapping on everybody,” Betty laughed, because that was exactly what he did. He was a gang leader for god-sake, he needed people to respect him, to fear him, and acting shitty towards them if they didn’t listen usually did the job.

“I am now a sappy gentleman, all thanks to you Betts,” he said, with half sarcastic smile. He tried covering it, but Betty could see that underneath all that thick skin and leather, he was the softest boy she has ever met.

“Let’s get you home, you look tired,” he said. She just nodded and waited for him to sit down, so she could cuddle to his back.

He stopped the motorcycle at the end of her road. He never went in front of her house, they didn’t want anybody to see them, especially not her mother.

“I guess, this is it,” Betty sighed.

She had grown quite fond of Jughead’s company over the course of the summer - but they were completely different people. They lived in completely different realities, which were not compatible. This bubble they had created over the summer was beautiful, but it couldn’t survive any longer.

“Yeah, this is it,” he whispered, “come here.” He squeezed her in a tight hug.

She inhaled his smell once more in an attempt to commit it to her memory forever.

“Thank you for the best summer of my life, J,” she said weakly.

“My pleasure,” he replied softly.

Despite how hard she was trying to keep it together, a single tear slipped from her eye and rolled down her cheek.

Jughead’s face softened, “Don’t cry, babydoll.”

He wiped the tear from her cheek, kissing the place lightly. Betty smiled and started shrugging his jacket off, but he stopped her.

“Don’t. I want you to keep it.”

“No, Jug. That’s your favourite one. I can’t accept it,” Betty shook her head, but she already knew there was no way she was winning this argument.

“I have plenty more. And it looks better on you anyways,” he winked, which made her laugh.

“Where would I even wear it? Stop being stupid and take it.”

“You don’t have to wear it, I just want you to have it. It’s not only about the jacket Betts, it’s about trust. It’s a symbol. If you ever find yourself in need of help and I am not there, the jacket is enough for any Serpent to trust you. Especially the fact, that it’s mine. So just take it Betts.” She looked him in the eyes, seeing the whirlwind of emotions inside him and wouldn’t be surprised if it reflected her own.

“Thank you, for everything,” she said before she leaned in to kiss him one last time.

“Of course,” he said when he pulled away.

Jughead put on his helmet before starting up his bike. This was it.

“And Jug?” she shouted, so he would hear her, “don’t be a complete stranger.”

The smile on his lips was enough of a promise that he wouldn’t be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> betad by the amazing @peyton_0727
> 
> Thank you so much for reading this, I love every single one of you.  
> Please leave your opinions and feelings in the comments below.
> 
> tumblr: catthecoder


	2. Chapter 2

The first week of school was unsurprisingly chaotic. With a new school year starting and Riverdale High having suddenly twice as many students as before, everything was a mess. Especially with the new students being from the Southside, which somehow, to reasons unknown to Betty, was really hurtful towards Bulldogs.

_“Masculinity makes you crazy, that’s why I am gay,”_ was all Kevin had to say about Bulldogs vs Serpents rivalry. Betty completely agreed. With the first part, not the second one - she didn’t think Kevin was crazy.

Betty’s curiosity as to what it would be like with Jughead at her school was quickly answered when she saw him in the hallway. She was at her locker exchanging her books when he and his friends turned the corner and proceeded to walk down the hall towards her. All the hairs on her stood to attention as the electric current of anticipation ran through her body.

She knew they wouldn’t tell anyone about what they were over the summer, but she wondered if he would at least acknowledge her in some way. Her question was answered when Jughead walked passed her without so much as a sideways glance. Once they were all out of sight she felt herself deflate.

They had been texting back and forth sporadically, mostly at night in an attempt to not be complete strangers now that the summer was over. She knew outright that they weren’t going to hang out, that wasn’t her expectation but she thought some nod of acknowledgment would’ve been nice.

The following Monday, Betty sat in her favourite spot in the class, waiting for the lesson to start, when Jughead and his friends arrived. She pretended not to notice them, and she continued doing so until Jughead threw his bag onto the desk next to her.

Her breathing became shallower quickly, so she just closed her eyes and tried to calm down.

_He’s just a boy,_ She scolded herself.

“Hey Jones, what have you done with your old jacket? Not that I don’t like the upgrade, but you loved that old thing,” Toni asked Jughead as they sat down.

Betty had to battle everything in her, so she wouldn’t turn and look at him.

“Yeah, we thought we would have to bury you in that thing,” a guy laughed.

“Very funny Sweet Pea. I had to say goodbye to it but don’t worry, it is in a better place now,” Jughead answered diplomatically.

His friends looked like they wanted to say more but they didn’t have time to say anything else as the teacher arrived to class and ordered everyone to quiet down.

“I bet he gave it a proper burial somewhere in Fox Forest,” Betty heard Toni whisper behind her, followed by a laugh of some guys.

She saw Jughead shoot Toni a glare before tuning into the lesson.

She knew that it was just friendly teasing, but she decided to uplift Jug’s mood anyways - she took her phone out of pocket and scrolled through some pictures she took in the jacket a few nights ago. She was feeling brave that day and so she put on only her matching pair of black lacy underwear and the jacket.

She wasn’t planning on sending him those photos when she took them; but now she felt like the situation required them.

**B** : Don’t worry, I am taking a good care of your favourite jacket ;)

She heard the tell-tale sound of his phone receiving the message immediately. He opened it without hesitation and Betty heard him sharply suck the air in.

**J** : Are you trying to kill me?

**J** : I was right, it’s definitely in a better place now ;)

***

When the day finally ended, Betty couldn’t wait to get home to her bed. Between her lack of sleep the past few weeks and the hectic start to the school year, she was exhausted.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t a Veronica approved plan, who decided that Pop’s with Archie would be a great idea since they hadn’t had the time to catch up since he returned from his road trip. So that’s how she ended up sipping a vanilla milkshake and listening to her friend going on about all the places he played at and trying not to fall asleep. She knew it was rude, but she just couldn’t help it - her eyes kept shutting down.

Just for a little while, she told herself, no one will notice…

The sound of her phone suddenly woke her up from her power nap. She felt disoriented for a while, until she realised what was happening.

“What’s going on B? You tired?” Veronica asked her worryingly.

“Yeah, didn’t get much sleep yesterday,” Betty shrugged, “I think I’ll head home if that’s okay with you guys.”

“Sure Betty. We can talk some other time,” Archie smiled, “just get some rest, okay?”

Betty nodded and got her things. As she was leaving Pop’s she remembered the message that woke her up.

**J** : I can see you sleeping in Pop’s

She smiled at her phone and decided to reply.

**B** : It’s called a power nap Juggie

**J** : Sure thing Betts

**J** : You alright?

**B** : Yeah, just tired.

**J** : Wanna hang out?

**B** : Raincheck? I need another nap real bad

He didn’t answer after that, so she just put her phone back into her pocket and continued walking home. She would love to hang out with him, but she was in no state to do so. When she arrived home, she headed straight to her room, laying onto the bed and falling asleep instantly.

***

_Betty was working her first shift in Pop’s, when she met J again._

_It was getting pretty late so there weren’t many customers, when he arrived with three friends all dressed in leather jackets. There was this tall guy with messy black hair, the shorter one with darker olive skin and a petite girl with pink hair. They sat at the back booth and as Betty had nothing better to do, she headed over with four menus._

_“Hi, welcome to Pop’s, here’s the menu. What can I get you all to drink?” she asked with her Cooper patented smile._

_They all looked at her in surprise - waitresses in Pop’s were usually old and tired, never blonde and enthusiastic._

_“I will get whatever you are offering, as long as it is as sweet as you,” the tallest one said, with a smirk._

_Betty looked at him with a raised eyebrow, “I don’t think you can handle my flavor sweetheart.”_

_The other two Serpents burst into a fit of giggles._

_Before he could respond J cut him off, “Don’t be a dick Pea. I would like to be able to come here again,” he said as he looked at his friend pointedly. Pea just rolled his eyes but said_ _nothing to question his authority._

_“Thanks, but I can handle myself,” Betty said tilting her head, her voice dripping with faux sweetness._

_“Whatever you say, babydoll,” J said teasingly, adding a wink after that._

_“Now who’s being a dick?” Betty said, still smiling at him._

_He raised his eyebrows at her, a smirk playing on his lips as the girl sitting next to him let out a silent shocked ‘ow’._

_“I’ll give you gentlemen time to figure out what flavor you can handle.”_

_She could hear them talking about her as she turned and walked away, but she couldn’t care less. This was going to be her summer, she was going to enjoy it and if giving random hot guys a hard time was enjoying it, then that’s what she was going to do._

_She was wiping down the counter, when she saw him stand up and head towards her out of the corner of her eye._

_“Can I help you?” she asked him sweetly._

_“My friends are being dicks, which is nothing new,” he shrugged, “but they bet me that I was the biggest loser and that I wouldn’t be able to get your phone number. So, is there a possibility you would help me prove them wrong?””_

_“Hmmm…. let me think about it…” Betty said, pretending to think for a moment, “No.”_

_“What? Why?” He looked genuinely shocked. He probably expected her to fall into his arms, begging him to accept her number._

_Although Betty wasn’t quite so sure where she was getting the courage to be this brazen with him, but she liked it._

_“I’m not going to give you my number just like that, you need to work for it, J,” Betty said._

_“Okay, what do I need to do?” he asked, looking in Betty’s eyes for an answer._

_Oh, the things he could do for. She quickly looked over his body, automatically adding things to the running list in her head.._

_“What can I do for you, babydoll?” he asked again, in slightly deeper, huskier voice, which made her weak in her knees._

_So many things. So many good things. Boy, was she getting herself in trouble._

_“I will give it to you if you won’t tell them,” Betty said finally, after she composed herself a bit, “I don’t want to you to have it just for their satisfaction. I want you to have it because you want it.”_

_“Can I have it because I want it and also not to be a loser in their eyes?”_

_“Sorry babe, no deal,” Betty shook her head._

_She knew from his smirk that she had won, they were going to make fun of him either way and that was the whole point. A little teasing never hurt anybody._

_“Fine,” he said, “I am coming for that number later.” He returned to his table, which she took as her cue to follow him to take their orders._

_“We’ll she about that,” she called after him._

_A few minutes later, when she arrived at the table, they were all laughing except for J, who looked so done with their shit._

_“Can I take your orders?” Betty asked as she stifled a laugh._

_“How about your name, babydoll?” Pea asked. Hearing J’s nickname for her roll of his tongue sounded just so wrong, she couldn’t even begin to describe it._

_“How about no, Pea?” she shot back, using the name J called him._

_“Just stop trying Pea, she shot you down twice and she didn’t give her number to Jughead neither. Obviously, the only one with any decent chance here is Toni,” said the other guy, but Betty’s mind was preoccupied. What kind of name was Jughead? No wonder he goes as J in the bar, nobody would ever take him seriously if they heard that name._

_“I don’t date Northsiders,” Toni said, “they all think that they are so much better than us, when in fact they are much worse.”_

_“Geez, Toni, way to kill mood. Nobody said anything about dating, a hook up is enough,” Pea said again._

_“Are you ready to order or should I come back?” Betty asked again, her patience slowly running out. She didn’t care what they had to say about her or Northside, they could just have enough respect to wait until she left._

_“Yeah, I will take the chocolate milkshake,” said the shorter guy._

_“Same for me, but extra cream,” said Pea._

_“I will have the strawberry one,” ordered Toni._

_Betty wrote everything down and then looked at Jughead, only to see that he was already staring at her. His eyes were dark, with a little spark in them, one just like he had in the bar._

_“I’ll take vanilla, that’s your flavor isn’t it?,” he said, handing her the menu without breaking the eye contact._

_She blushed crimson._

_Over next few hours, all of his friends gradually left. When he was the only one there, he moved from the booth to sit on the stool next to the bar._

_“I think you owe me a number, babydoll,” he said sweetly._

_“I will gladly give it to you, but answer me this- what kind of name is Jughead?” she asked, trying not to laugh._

_“Too many questions, pretty girl. I will need to take you out to be able to answer them all,” he winked._

_Being called pretty girl, after all that flirting made Betty blush._

_“I finish in ten minutes, so how about you take me out then?” She didn’t wait for the answer, just disappeared to the back of the kitchen, being confident that he would be there, waiting for her after she finished._

_***_

Betty woke up some time after 10pm to the sound of knocking.

She went to check her door, but there was nobody on the other side which must have meant only one thing - window. She turned around to see Jug’s head staring into her room, smiling. She quickly locked the door and went to open the window to let him in.

“If you wouldn’t have woken up soon, I would be forced to use the backdoor and I couldn’t risk that with your parents home,” he said as he was climbing into her room.

“Just hope that Archie didn’t see you; I don’t think he would approve of a southsider sneaking into my room at this ungodly hour.”

“Well, then screw Archie. Besides, I brought you something,” Jug said and reached into his backpack, from which he pulled a white bag.

“Is that Pop’s?” Betty’s eyes immediately shined with happiness.

“Yeah, exactly how you like it. I thought you might need some comfort food,” he shrugged. She pressed a kiss to his cheek which quickly escalated by moving to his mouth.

“Jug, we should stop. Friends aren’t supposed to be kissing like this.”

“Friends aren’t supposed to be sending teasing pictures during class as well,” he shrugged and started unpacking his burger as if nothing had just happened.

“That wasn’t teasing!”

“Betts, you were wearing lingerie. And my jacket. It was teasing, there is no arguing about that.”

“Fine, whatever. Guess being friends is hard.”

“Yeah, but it’s better this way.”

_Was it really?_

“So, how are you enjoying Riverdale High so far?” Betty asked, deciding a change of subject would be the best course of action.

“It’s much better than Southside High, let me tell you that. Honestly, everything is so clean, and you have teachers that actually give a crap about classes and the library. I didn’t think such a thing existed.” Jughead looked like a kid that got a puppy for Christmas; just pure happiness written all over his face.

“Yeah, it exists for sure,” she said with a little laugh.

“Are you mocking me, Elizabeth Cooper?” he asked challengingly.

“I would never dare, Forsythe.”

“I bring you Pop’s and you call me that? That’s just rude.”

“I’m sorry baby,” Betty apologised, but playful tone never left her voice.

They continued eating in silence, just enjoying each other’s company.

Then they talked a bit more about school, Jug told her about what’s new with Serpents, she talked to him about all of the gossip from Veronica and Kevin.

By the time they looked at the clock again it was around 1am. She felt like she could talk to him about anything and everything forever. But before they could anywhere close to forever, the screaming started.

Jughead’s brows furrowed, “Betts… is that your parents?”

She didn’t answer him, sucking her bottom lip into her mouth and trapping it there as she listened to her parents fighting. She hoped it would not come to this tonight, she didn’t want him, or anyone for that matter to know about it.

“Betts?” he asked again, moving closer to her, so he could put his hands around her. “What’s going on?”

“It’s really nothing,” she whispered, but buried her face into safety of his chest.

“Hey, babe, talk to me. You are upset, so it’s not nothing.”

_Deep breaths Betty, you can do this._

“It’s just my parents.” she said with a shrug. “We pretend to be this big happy family every day. And of course all that time we spend faking it takes a lot of effort, so at night, when there is nobody to put on a show for, they end up screaming their lungs out at each other.”

“That’s why you were so tired today?” he asked softly, stroking her back.

“Yesterday, they finally stopped some time before dawn.”

“How long has it been going on?”

“Few days - usually if I fall asleep before they start it won’t wake me up, but I am not able to fall asleep with them screaming,” she shrugged.

He sighed, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You never asked.”

The truth was, she would have told him if he had asked her. If he asked her why she was so tired in school, why she needed to take a power nap in Pop’s, why he found her napping until 10pm. She probably would’ve told him well before that but that what wasn’t what he was to her anymore.

He paused, looking at her for a moment as if he was looking for some kind of answer to a question he would never ask.

He eventually said, “I am sorry that I kept you up this long - you should have been already asleep. Now it’s my fault you’ll be tired.”

“No, don’t worry about it. I got solid 6 hours before you came, I’ll be fine. You should go home and rest though.”

“No way, I am not leaving you,” he shook his head, “neither of us are going to sleep tonight, so we might as well use it as a quality time.”

She wanted to ask him why he wouldn’t be sleeping either but instead she said, “Movie?”

“As if there was no better use of bed than watching Netflix,” Jughead rolled his eyes.

“Well, if you behave, maybe there will be also some chill afterward,” Betty said winking at him, which had him heading straight for the bed.

“Is that how friends are supposed to act, babydoll?” he asked teasingly, while stroking her lower back.

He knew that she loved that place, it always relaxed her and made her feel safe. It was almost cruel.

“You are the worst.”

He didn’t argue - he just cuddled her close and immersed into movie with her; they were both asleep before even reaching an hour mark.

***

They woke up to her mother banging her fist on her door.

“Elizabeth, unlock this door right now or you are grounded!”

“I am coming mom!” Betty shouted back.

She just mouthed apology to Jughead who was picking up his stuff quickly to hide in her bathroom. When she was sure that he is inside and silent, she unlocked the door to let her mom in.

“Why do you sleep with locked doors?” she asked suspiciously.

“I like to sleep naked when it’s hot and I don’t really want you or dad walking in on me like that,” Betty answered swiftly. She didn’t lie - she just omitted the fact that there was usually a naked boy lying next to her. And today was no different. Expect for the fact that they were untraditionally dressed.

“Well, breakfast is ready downstairs. Come and eat with us,” she said and left room. Betty promptly closed door behind her.

“I think I should be leaving, I need to stop by my place to get changed. See you in school?” he asked, his sleepy morning smile making her heart swell.

“Yeah, see ya. And thanks for last night,” she smiled genuinely.

“Anytime babydoll,” he said, kissing her cheek. “I am always just a call away.”

And with that, he climbed out her window and disappeared.

***

School was no different than any other day.

She hung out with Veronica and Kevin and managed to get some quality time with Archie during lunch, which was nice. They hadn’t talked much during summer and she really missed her childhood best friend.

“Hey Betty, I noticed something strange this morning,” Archie said suddenly.

“What?” Betty asked, praying he hadn’t seen Jughead climbing out of her bedroom window because that would certainly be hard to explain.

“As I was leaving for school this morning, there was this guy in a Serpent jacket on our street; he walked to the end of it and then a few minutes later, he went the other way on his motorcycle. I didn’t catch his face, but he looked young, he may be going to our school.”

She knew that telling Jughead to never ride on her street was a good rule, because people were bound to notice a Serpent on one of the safest, most secure and prominent streets of Riverdale.

“What are you saying Arch?” Betty asked, trying to find out as much as he knew.

“Just, to be careful. They are criminals, so remember to lock your window, alright?”

Betty had to bite her tongue. She wanted to tell Archie how wrong he was about the Serpents. They weren’t criminals, they were a community and a family. She wanted to defend Jughead and tell Archie that he would never compromise the Serpent's integrity.

“Yeah, thanks Arch. I will,” she said instead, trying to sound as sincere as possible.

Archie looked like he was going to say more but mercifully Kevin and Veronica joined them.

“B, don’t turn around right now,” Veronica said in a hushed tone.

“What?” Betty asked.

“A certain beanie-wearing Serpent has been staring at you for a while now,” Kevin has explained, “by the way, Ronnie have you noticed his new jacket? He used to wear this really old ragged one and he has a new one now; which let me tell you looks much better.”

_Jug? What was he doing staring at her?_

“He probably has a woman in his life, because that is one clever fashion decision,” Veronica decided.

“Or maybe a gay best friend. Oh, only if one of those beauties were gay, I would be the happiest man alive,” Kevin remarked dreamily.

_Both_. _He has both,_ Betty wanted to say but she couldn’t, because after all, she wasn’t his girl. They weren’t even supposed to act like they knew each other.

“Well he has no business staring at Betty anyways,” Archie said decidedly.

_What?_ Betty was confused. Why was Archie staking a claim over her?

“I can stand up for myself Arch,” Betty protested but he didn’t hear her.

He got up from their table and before anybody could realize what he was doing, he was standing in front of Jughead. His blue and yellow letterman jacket stood out in the sea of black leather, just waiting to be erased.

“What do you want, Bulldog?” Betty heard somebody ask, which was enough to turn the attention of the whole cafeteria on them.

A group of guys in letterman jackets, about half a dozen of them, stood up behind Archie, like a pack of wolves following their alpha into fight.

“Quit staring at Betty,” Archie said directly to him.

Betty just shook her head, hoping that at least Jug would be sensible when Archie felt the need to defend her honor, play the protective hero, for whom she did not ask. However, when she saw the smirk of amusement on his lips, she knew that this would end badly.

“She your girl Andrews?” she heard Sweet Pea say.

Before Archie could say anything, Jughead cut in, “The one with a blonde ponytail and that outrageously short skirt? Man, how could I not stare at those legs. I keep imagining how it would feel to have them wrapped around me, to have her screaming my name as she…” was all he managed to say before Archie’s fist connected his jaw.

“Archie!” she shouted, in a hope to get the attention of at least one of them, but both were too consumed by their masculinity to notice her.

Mentally, she begged Jug to just retreat, to laugh this off, but when she saw Sweet Pea hitting one of the Bulldogs, she knew it was too late. After that, the cafeteria turned into a complete mess.

After all, Riverdale High had been like that since the merge - a bomb, waiting for somebody to push the right button for it to explode.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> betad by the lifesaving @peyton_0727
> 
> Thank you so much for reading this, I love every single one of you. I am still overwhelmed by the amount of love and support on the first chapter.  
> Please leave your opinions and feelings in the comments below.
> 
> tumblr: catthecoder


	3. Chapter 3

Betty was sitting outside the principal’s office, nervously waiting for either Archie or Jughead to come out. The hall was empty, everybody has already gone to their classes, so she hoped she would get to talk to Jughead at least for a bit.

Her wish came true when he was the first one to exit the principal’s office.

“Jug,” Betty breathed out a relief, happy that apart from few bruises and a torn lip, he seemed to be okay.

“You should be in class Betts,” he simply said, giving her one of her favourite smiles, “don’t want to get beaten up again because you are skipping class to talk to me.” Although there was a fun tilt in his voice, there was also a seriousness bleeding through it.

“I had to make sure you are okay. Archie has twice the muscles you have.”

“Yeah, but he also has half a brain. I could have gotten out of it without a scratch. I let him beat me up, didn’t want to hurt his precious little ego. So, don’t worry about me babydoll,” he smiled. 

His hand automatically came up her shoulder, to give a reassuring squeeze, when Archie stormed out of the office. It quickly fell down and he took a step back from Betty, but the damage has already been done. 

It took Archie only three longs steps to reach a spot where Jughead was standing and then one more to press him against the wall.

“Don’t lay those dirty serpent hands on her,” he hissed, right into his face.

“Archie, enough, please,” Betty begged him, pulling on his arm to let go of Jughead. She wasn’t going to let them fight, not again.

“Yeah, Archie, listen to  _ your  _ girl,” Jughead said teasingly before he pushed Archie in the chest. Archie was unsuspecting of the blow from Jughead and was throw off balance and offered Jughead a space to escape. He quickly did so, positioning himself in the middle of hall.

“I will see you later, babydoll!” he called after Betty, when he was far enough to be protected from Archie’s rage. 

“Don’t you fucking dare, you asshole!” Archie shouted at him, but the only answer he got was the sound of Jughead’s laughter, echoing through the hall.

“What a dick,” Archie whispered to Betty, “are you okay?” He looked at her worryingly, as if she was the one who just got beaten up. 

“Me? What about you?” Betty asked quickly, scanning Archie’s face. There were some bruises already starting to form and a nice shiner under his left eye.

“It doesn’t even hurt,” he shrugged, “I’m sorry I didn’t stop him from touching you.” 

Archie Andrews, a precious little puppy, believing that what he knows is always right. “Did he say anything to you?”

“He apologised,” Betty said, “for saying those things in cafeteria.” 

She trusted Jughead unconditionally and therefore, she knew he must have had a good reason to say such vulgar things about her to Archie.Not that she knew that reason right now, but she would get it out of him eventually. But for now, she needed to calm Archie down and that was the right thing to say.

“It looks like I managed to beat some sense into him after all,” Archie laughed, hugging Betty tightly, “I am just glad you are okay.”

“Yeah, thanks to you,” she whispered quietly. 

  
  
  


Jughead wasn’t in any of the classes for the rest of the day and when she tried calling him, he didn’t pick up. She stopped by Pop’s after school, only to see if he was there stuffing his face, but his bike hadn’t been parked anywhere near. So, she just headed home, knowing that if he didn’t call her, she had the means of looking for him.

But she didn’t need to do it, as while she was getting out of the shower, her phone buzzed with a message.

_ J: pick you up in 5?  _

She got dressed quickly and without thinking about it twice she pulled out his jacket from the closet. The nights were already getting too cold to be out just in a shirt and if he came by bike, which he surely did, she would need that extra layer. 

When she arrived at the end of their road with two minutes to spare, he was already there, waiting for her with an extra helmet in on hand. Betty took it without saying anything and got on the back of his bike, immediately enjoying the closeness riding on the bike put them in.

When he stopped the bike, they were in their favourite spot near Sweetwater river. 

They used to come there every week during summer, to escape from the town, to be able to breathe and relax without the fear of anyone watching them.

They both took the helmets off, listening to the sound of nature for a while in comfortable silence. Betty was dying to ask Jughead for an explanation for the stunt he pulled in the cafeteria earlier that day but she didn’t want to push him.

After a few minutes of silence, he started.

“There is this girl - Cathy - she is 16 and she has just joined Serpents this summer. I won’t go into much detail, but she was running away from her father.” Jughead stopped for a while, as if he was looking for the right words. 

“It wasn’t pretty.” 

Another pause. 

“But she was getting better, starting to trust people, especially guys, again. Trusting them so much that when Chuck Clayton asked her out, she said yes.” 

_ Oh _ .

“He took her to Pop’s, sat next to her. At first, it was all fine, but then he started making really inappropriate comments about her, being rude and aggressive towards her. His friends were sitting in other booth, laughing at it and filming it.” Jughead sighed and Betty rubbed his back - she understood him.

“It took Toni four days to find out what happened - if any of us guys even tried coming near her, she would start spiralling and crying.” He stopped again, his voice wavering a bit.

“She didn’t want us to get involved; she didn’t want us to get into trouble for her; but Serpents protect their own. That’s why I provoked Andrews; I wasn’t feeling playful, or anything like that. I knew that he thinks of you as the perfect innocent girl-next-door and that seeing me,  _ a southside scum _ , staring at you and making remarks about your gorgeous body would send him spiralling. Him and a few other bulldogs.” He stopped and before Betty could say anything, he started again.

“I will not apologise for beating them up - Archie may not have been in that diner, but the others were. But I am sorry for putting you in a position of a bait - I just couldn’t, no,  _ I wouldn’t _ risk saying those things about somebody I don’t know. I could have ended up hurting them and it wouldn’t make me any better than a Bulldog,” he whispered. 

His voice was shaky, as if he was stopping himself from crying. Betty just silently took him into a hug, stroking his back as he let out a silent sob.

“It’s okay to cry Juggie,” she whispered into his neck, “I’m here for you.”

  
  


***

  
  


_ “You expect me to get on that?” Betty laughed, when she saw Jughead heading for motorcycle parked in front of Pop’s, “you’ve got to be kidding me.” _

_ “C’mon babydoll, it’ll be fun,” he smirked, offering her his helmet, “nothing will happen to you, don’t worry.”  _

_ Betty looked into the blue of his eyes and something in them just felt right. Like she could trust him, even though he was a complete stranger. So, she took the helmet from his hands and placed it securely on the top of her head. _

_ “Just, go slowly okay?” she asked as she sat behind him. _

_ “Oh, sweetheart, it’s so much more dangerous that way.” His bike roared as he started it and hit the road.  _

_ The experience was like from out-of-this-world.  _

_ The wind on her legs and arms made her feel like she was flying, but his body kept her grounded safely. She felt the engine pulsating into her thighs and from there into her whole body. She wanted to scream from the top of her lungs, scream of happiness and excitement. She was free and not afraid to be herself, which was a completely new feeling; but she liked it. Oh, how she loved it. _

_ The ride came to end sooner than she wanted it to. She could spend hours, just roaming around backroads, feeling the air around her, feeling the freedom around her. _

_ “So, how was it?” Jughead asked, helping her get off the bike. Her knees felt a bit shaky, so she was happy to accept his strong arm to help her stand. _

_ “I feel like I was alive for the first time,” Betty smiled. Her answer certainly pleased him, as a wide grin spread across his face as well. _

_ “Maybe, I will teach you how to drive it one day,” he offered casually, which made Betty squeal with happiness.  _

_ “I would love that Juggie,” she exclaimed, the nickname slipping from her tongue so naturally as if it has always been there. She threw her arms around him, which left him standing shocked for a second, but then he immediately hugged her back. _

_ She felt his warm arms holding her waist closely, she felt his breath tingling her on her neck line. She felt a faint smell of tobacco and leather from him, and something she couldn’t completely place. Whatever it was, she wanted to keep breathing it in forever. _

_ “It will be my pleasure, babydoll,” he said with a small chuckle and for reasons unknown to Betty, it made her blush. _

_ “Why are you always calling me that?” she asked shyly, wondering where all her flirtatious behaviour has disappeared, now when she needed it. _

_ “You still haven’t told me your name,” he answered, which made her blush even more. Where were her manners? _

_ “Betty. Betty Cooper,” she told him. _

_ “Jughead Jones,” he offered, to which Betty chuckled a little. _

_ “Please, explain to me, what kind of name is that?” she asked, poking her finger into his ribs. _

_ “It’s unique, like me,” he shrugged, which made her laugh even more. _

_ “But is that for real? Like does your birth certificate say that?”  _

_ “No, birth certificate is much worse.” _

_ “Tell me, please,” she begged him, only for him to shake his head. “I promise you I won’t laugh,” she whispered, “I won’t tell anybody I swear.” _

_ “Fine, but I want something in return,” he said. Betty looked at him with a raised eyebrow, only to see his eyes fall down to her lips. Oh, she would more than happily oblige. _

  
  
  


_ He stopped his bike at the further end of Elm Street, the one which couldn’t be seen from neither her or Archie’s house.  _

_ “That’s me,” she whispered, as she got off the bike, “thank you. For all of this.” _

_ “My pleasure, Betts,” he smiled smugly. _

_ “Oh no, it was certainly my pleasure,” she answered, copying his grin.  _

_ Her memories flashed few hours back, to the picture of her on his bike, kissing the life out of him, with his hand buried deep down in her panties. She was probably going to get herself off of that memory many more times; unless they made new ones.  _

_ Which she would be more than happy to do. _

_ “Can we meet again?” he asked, as if he was reading her mind.  _

_ “I work the day after tomorrow. Pick me up after my shift?” she asked, with a spark in her eyes. _

_ “Sure thing, babydoll,” he winked at her, making her weak in the knees. _

  
  


_ *** _

  
  


When Weatherbee granted her a permission to reopen the Blue and Gold office a year ago, she was thrilled. She always loved to write - not because her parents were forcing her; not because she was supposed to take over the Riverdale Register when they retired. She wanted to write because it allowed her to sit down and organise her thoughts into something that made sense - not the mess of her head. 

The newspaper was heavily understaffed - most of the time she was the only one writing the stories. Sometimes she managed to persuade Veronica or Kevin to write a fashion or a gossip piece, but she didn’t feel like writing about something you text about is worthy. And that was where she hit her roadblock - there wasn’t much going on. She managed to go through all of Riverdale High’s scandals and problems in the first six editions. She tried writing about things that were happening in the town, but her mother shot her down, because apparently she was stealing her audience. 

Now, she had a story idea, but was not so sure if she should write it. The fight had happened two days ago, and she knew she should cover it. It had been the most exciting thing that has happened in Riverdale High since the merge, she needed to write about it. But there was no way she would be able to write it objectively. 

And there was no way she would take the side of Bulldogs.

“There you are,” she heard from the door. She turned on her chair, to see Kevin entering with a bag of donuts in each hand.

“I thought I would find you here, working on a new article,” he smiled and sat down next to her, “what's the scoop on the Serpents vs. Bulldogs fight yesterday? I am dying to know details!” 

“Nothing Kev,” Betty said disappointedly. She reached over to take one of the donuts he brought. She bit into it-  _ Oh, she needed that. _

“Nothing? Betty, everybody is talking about it, how could you have nothing? Apparently, Archie and Jughead, the Serpent with a beanie, got into another fight after they left the principal’s office!”

“It wasn’t really a fight,” Betty muttered, but Kevin still heard that.

“You know something about it?” he asked immediately. 

“Yeah, I was there.”

“What? Why didn’t you tell me this? Betty!”

“I didn’t have time, I guess,” she just shrugged.

“So, spill now!”

“There’s really nothing to spill, Kev. I was waiting for Archie when Jughead left the office. He saw me, so he went over to apologise for what he said, Arch saw him talking to me, so he pushed him against the wall. I had to pull him off Jug, or he would beat him up again.”

“Okay, hold on.  _ Jug?”  _ Kevin asked, focusing on the least important part of that all, “since when are we calling him that? I know his name sucks, but when did you have time to come up with that?” Why did he have to go looking for a hidden meaning behind everything? 

“I don’t know, like you said, his name sucks. I just wanted to shorten it,” Betty answered, hopping that it would satisfy him, “I always do that,  _ Kev. _ ” The face he made ensured her that he understands her reasoning and will not look into it anymore.

“So, tell me again, why aren’t you writing about it?” he returned back to the previous subject.

“I just don’t think I can,” Betty sighed.

“Why?”

“It won’t be objective.” It was too close to her.

“Why, because it involved you? You can get over that, you have done it before,” Kevin tried encouraging her, “just go out, interview some people on their opinions if you don’t want it to be about you.”

Betty could do that. Hell, that was her first plan - talk to people about their opinions, their feelings. But after she talked to Jughead, she knew that whoever else she would ask would end up lying to her. Both sides would just start throwing dirt at each other, blaming others for things they did. But more importantly, after talking to Jughead, she knew that she couldn’t tell the truth. Because it wasn’t her story to tell.

“I know that look, Cooper. You have already interviewed people, am I right?” Was she that easy to read? Did she always have everything written on her face, for everybody to see?

“Yeah, I did,” she admitted. There was no point in denying it, Kevin would get it out of her either way.

“So, why aren’t you writing?”

“Because it’s not my story to tell.”

“Then find a way around it! Don’t tell what you aren’t supposed to but write just enough for everybody to understand what you want them to understand. Just don’t give up Betty, that’s not like you.”

Kevin was right. She couldn’t just give up - she needed to write that story. Not for herself, but for Serpents. She needed to write it for Jug, she needed to write it for Sweet Pea, she needed to write it for Cathy. So, she picked up a pen and started scribbling words down on paper, as quickly as she could. Her mind was flooded with ideas and she needed to write all of them down.

“My work here is done,” Kevin just said happily and left the office.

  
  


_ How did it happen? _

_ Why did the Tuesday fight go down? What was the spark that ignited the flame of the explosion? Many might think that it was due to a certain Serpent who did not show enough respect to a Bulldog in his territory. To a certain Serpent who did not understand his place in this school. But that could not be further from truth. _

_ Riverdale had been split in two ever since it was established - the prejudice and hatred towards each other could literally be flowing in our blood. From a very young age, our parents always remind us - do not go wandering off to Southside, you will get robbed. Do not talk to northsiders, all they know are lies. Never trust somebody who is not your neighbour. _

_ The merge of Southside High with Riverdale High took all of us by surprise. The tension had been more palpable with every passing day - we all were like a powder keg, just waiting for somebody to become the spark. _

_ And oh, the spark came. It was small, none of you noticed - all you saw was the explosion. Nobody noticed the spark in the Pop’s diner. _

_ There, in the no-man’s land. Bulldogs do not own the diner and nor do the Serpents. But yet, somebody has tarnished the innocence, the peacefulness, the sacredness of that place.  _

_ Now, let me tell you something. Just go back, remember what you have done. Think about it. Really think about it. And now be honest. _

_ Were you that spark? _

_ Or are you a liar? _

  
  


Breaking into Weatherbee’s office after he left the school on Thursday was easy. It was harder to find Cathy’s file because she didn’t have her last name, but Betty managed. She wasn’t sure what address she had expected, but it certainly wasn’t none. Jughead had said that she run away from home, but Betty still hoped to find something in her file. She didn’t want to ask him for help, she needed to do it on her own. She needed to be able to claim full responsibility for her article, which meant no talking to Jughead about it. 

That resulted into her standing outside the Whyte Wyrm, hoping she would find Cathy there. And that she wouldn’t run into anybody who would recognise her. She had her Serpent jacket safely tucked in her backpack, just as a precaution.

With a deep breath out, she walked in. 

It was mostly empty - but she could get lost among the people if she needed to. 

She quickly glanced over to the bar, to be relieved when she didn’t see Jughead. The guy that was bartending was young, but not enough to still go to high school. This was perfect. She sat down and waved at him to get his attention.

“What can I help you with, miss?” he asked politely, with a wide smile spreading across his face. He had the bluest eyes she had ever seen and black locks of hair falling to his shoulders. She looked at his name tag, which said  _ J.  _ Well, there goes trying to be friendly by using first names.

“Hi, I am looking for Cathy? She has classes with my sister and I was supposed to bring her some notes,” Betty said, motioning over her bag, which contained a binder of her old notes, just in case she needed a proof.

“Hold on for a moment, let me see if she’s here,” he said and quickly disappeared into a back door. 

Betty knew well what was there - a long corridor of all storage rooms that were rebuilt to serve as compact studios. She guessed that Cathy took residence in one of them - considering she was running away from her father, this would serve as a perfect hiding place.

He returned back after 5 minutes, motioning her to follow him. She quickly did, going behind the bar and disappearing into the door marked with words  _ entrance forbidden. _

“Cathy, it’s Joaquin. Can I come in?” he asked her through the door. 

So that was the famous Joaquin. Betty have heard about him, from the stories Jughead told her over the summer - he was his right hand, probably the only person he would ever trust with the leadership of the Serpents. He was really clever and rational but hated being in the spotlight of the leader.

Betty could hear the girl unlocking door from inside. She hoped Joaquin would just leave, because if Cathy blew her cover, she would be seriously fucked. Cathy’s door opened, and a blonde head popped out of them. Joaquin motioned to Betty to speak, which she did immediately.

“Hi, I’m Monica, Sarah is my younger sister. She was supposed to come and bring you some notes, but she got sick, so she sent me instead. Would you like me to show it to you quickly?” Betty asked, praying it would work. She knew Monica, she was a grade lower than Betty and she had sister called Sarah who should be in Cathy’s class. They were both blonde, which played out well for Betty, as she didn’t have to worry about looking too differently.

“Yeah, sure. You can come inside. Joaquin, will you wait here?” she asked and opened door more to let Betty in. Joaquin nodded, propping himself against the wall opposite to doors. Cathy shut the door behind Betty and walked to the other side of the room.

“You can stop pretending now. Just because Joaquin is oblivious, doesn’t mean I am. What do you want?” Cathy asked her, with raised eyebrow. Well, Betty certainly didn’t expect that.

“Start talking or I will scream and trust me, Joaquin will be here before you can blink.” For a 16-year-old, she was certainly fiery.

“My name is Betty Cooper,” she started, because that seemed to be as good of a start as any.

“I know who you are. You are the reason why half of the Serpents got beaten up.” Well, that really hit her, especially coming from Cathy. How come that Betty was to blame? It wasn’t her fault in any way. If she wanted to blame somebody, it should have been Jughead, not her. He provoked Archie, he continued poking him, until the fight has erupted. 

“Didn’t Jughead tell you?” she asked incredulous.. 

But then, it was like him. Do a grand gesture, protect somebody’s integrity and not tell them about it afterwards. Being humble, he called it, but to Betty it was simply him never taking credit for always being the good guy.

“Didn’t he tell me what?” She looked confused and angry. 

“Why he started the fight?”

“No...why? What was he supposed to tell me?”

Betty took a deep breath. She didn’t expect it to go this way, she didn’t expect Cathy to have no idea. It made getting her permission kind of pointless, but she would do it anyways, now that she was here.

“He did it for you Cathy.”

“What?”

“Look, I shouldn’t be the one to explain his reasoning to you. Ask him yourself. I just want your permission to publish this.” she showed her the article. “I don’t need it, but I felt it would be right to ask you first.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> betad by the lifesaving @peyton_0727
> 
> Thank you so much for reading this, I love every single one of you. I am still overwhelmed by the amount of love and support on the first chapter.  
> Please leave your opinions and feelings in the comments below.
> 
> tumblr: catthecoder


	4. Chapter 4

Betty arrived at school early following morning - surprisingly, she got enough sleep last night and she woke up feeling refreshed and ready to be productive. 

She decided she would start with cleaning up the Blue and Gold office, as it got too messy for her liking. Random papers were spread all across the desk and her planning board was full of unnecessary trash. She would never get any work done like that, that was for sure.

She managed to get through sorting one pile of papers from one desk, when a soft knock interrupted her.

“It’s open,” she shouted and continued reading a current scrap of paper. What was her shopping list doing here?

“Is this the Blue and Gold office?” a girl asked. Betty immediately lifted her head - she recognised that voice - she had heard it many times during her summer shifts in Pop’s - Toni Topaz. What on earth was she doing here?

“The one and only,” Betty answered with easy smile, “can I help you with something?” 

“I wanna join,” she said simply, with a little shrug. Well, that was unexpected. Betty didn’t react right away, processing the information, which Toni took as an opportunity.

“Before you shoot me down, I have done my research. You are the only official member of this newspaper and that shit isn’t easy. Back at Southside High, I ran the Red and Black single-handedly for over three years and it takes a toll on your sanity, trust me,” she said with a wink, sitting down on an empty chair across the desk from Betty, “I have the experience and I have the passion. You can’t say no to me, blondie.” 

Betty really wanted to reject her, just because she knew accepting her would get both of them into trouble. She knew how people reacted to mixing of the sides, how down they looked onto the ones that were brave enough to not be afraid. She knew she should discuss it with Jughead. 

Wait,  _ but why?  _

She didn’t need his opinion, why was she seeking his approval? This had nothing to do with him, this was Toni, who might have been his best friend, but she was her own person. As was Betty.

“Fine. Just two things - I am the editor-in-chief. I need you to trust my judgement and listen to me, okay?” she asked. She knew that Toni was smart, but she also knew that Toni was a force to be reckoned with. Once she got something into her head, there was no stopping her.

“I’ll give you my best,” she answered, “what’s the second thing?”

“If you call me blondie one more time, you are done. My name is Betty.” 

She hated being called that - she hated being perceived as nothing more than just a random girl with a blonde hair. She wanted people to know her, she wanted to be more than just  _ blondie _ . 

“I’ll take that, but beware- no calling me pinkie,” Toni answered with a laugh. 

“I would never do that, Antoinette Isabella Topaz,” Betty replied, loving seeing the shock go through Toni’s face. 

She remembered Jughead telling her Toni’s full name in anger at the small girl after she had stumbled to his trailer drunk at 4am. Which wouldn’t have been the worst, except the fact that she arrived with equally drunk FP Jones and if Jughead hadn’t dragged her out, things would probably get too disgusting quickly.

“How do you know that?” Toni asked her, clearly intrigued. 

“I am a journalist Toni, I have my ways,” was all Betty offered, before returning her attention to the pile of papers on the table.

“Well, I am certainly impressed and excited to work with you,” Toni said happily. 

Betty saw the twinkle in her eyes, the happiness shining through them - and she was genuinely happy for saying yes to her. She made her life better, she gave her an opportunity to do what she loved; what more was there? 

Betty showed her to a desk she could work at and then shared her latest draft of the upcoming newspaper to look over. 

“So,” Toni said after a while, “I read that article you published last night.” 

Betty looked up from the paper she was currently reading to look at Toni. She hadn’t heard anybody’s opinion so far, mainly because she published it to the Blue and Gold’s website sometime after midnight and then went straight to bed, without sending the link to anybody.

“Why did you write it?” Toni asked quietly. 

She was staring desperately at Betty, right into her eyes, as if she was trying to see what she was thinking. As if she was trying to see the reasoning behind her actions, but she was coming up empty.

“Because it was the truth,” Betty replied shrugging. She wasn’t going to sacrifice her journalistic integrity, she wasn’t going to lie in an article. Even if nobody knew it, she just wouldn’t do it.

“But you could have trashed the Serpents. After all, we started the fight. You could have trashed Jughead, who acted like a complete dick. You could have trashed all of us so bad that we would be afraid to show our faces in this school. I have read your previous work, you have a power with words, you could have done that. So why, why didn’t you?” By the end, Toni’s voice was breaking and somehow, it was breaking Betty’s heart. 

Betty quickly got up her chair and went to sit next to her. She slowly placed her hand onto Toni’s shoulder and started rubbing it slowly, a technique Jughead has used so many times to calm her down.

“Toni, look at me,” Betty whispered and waited for Toni to meet her eyes, “You’re right, I could have written that, yes. But you and I both know that isn’t what happened, that that wouldn’t have been the truth.” 

That seemed to break something in Toni, as tears started rolling down her cheeks. She quickly hid her face into her palms and moved further away from Betty, but that didn’t stop her. Toni needed her now, she needed a shoulder to cry on, she needed a friend. 

“Hey, it’s okay,” Betty whispered in a soothing voice, moving from a chair she was sitting on to the floor, so she could be closer to the crying girl. She rubbed her knee now - just to let her know she was there for her - to which Toni reacted by throwing herself into Betty’s arms. It surprised her a bit, but she quickly put her hands around the small girl and lightly stroked her back, until she felt her breathing coming back to normal. 

She stayed in her arms for a few more minutes after the crying stopped. Toni slowly moved back, but still staying relatively close to Betty. Their legs were entangled, Betty’s hands haven’t left Toni’s waist from hugging her yet. 

She could feel her warm breath on her face, she could see her reflection in her glassy eyes. If they moved just a bit closer, their noses would touch. Just a bit closer.

In retrospect, Betty wasn’t sure who was the first person to move - she just suddenly felt her lips crashing to Toni’s. It felt a lot different than kissing Jughead. With him, there had always been that spark of lust, Betty felt it from every kiss, from every touch, from every look. She always felt the electricity between them, sparks flying like fireworks.

Kissing Toni on the other hand, felt strangely desperate. Maybe it was because of the salty tears that stained her whole face. Or maybe it was because that was Toni felt - desperation. Loneliness. Sadness. A need to be feel  _ something _ , to feel love. So, Betty continued returning her kisses, hoping that she would feel that she wasn’t alone.

And after a while, she felt it. Their lips separated, moving a bit away and instead, their foreheads connected. They sat like that for a while, waiting for their breathing to calm down.

“I’m sorry,” Toni finally whispered, “for breaking down. And kissing you. It’s just - I have been so used to northsiders shitting on us, blaming us for everything. I don’t think I have read one positive article about Southside. And when I opened yours, I was expecting the same as always - hate and prejudice. I wasn’t ready for such reasonable words, for someone to put blame on both sides. Thank you for doing that - they won’t tell you, but all of them appreciate it.” Betty smiled, understanding her words. Her mother ran the town’s newspaper - she saw all of the articles she published, throwing trash on Southside, often without any proof to support her claims.

“You don’t have to apologise for breaking down. It happens to the best of us,” Betty answered. She looked at Toni and saw a small smile appearing on her lips - she would be ok. She moved her hand under her chin to lift her face up. When their eyes connected, both of them smiled. 

If all else fails, at least she got a new friend out of that article and that was already a win.

  
  


***

  
  


_ “What are we doing, Jug?”.  _

_ They were lying naked on a blanket near the bank of Sweetwater River. The sun had just set and everything around them was covered in a blue glow - the forest looked as if it was straight from a fairytale. And Betty felt as if she was in fairytale for now - until she had to return to the harsh reality that was Riverdale. _

_ “What do you mean?” he asked, rolling over so he could face her.  _

_ She smiled at the sight of him; his hat he always used to wear had been thrown on a pile with the rest of their clothes which allowed his thick black hair to show of their in their full beauty. They had been messy - mainly because Betty ran her hands through them too many times to count. She loved how thick they were but at the same time, how soft they felt.  _

_ “I mean us. We hang out either at night or we hide somewhere, where nobody can find us. Are we ashamed of being seen together?” she asked.  _

_ It was bugging her - they have been meeting secretly for almost two weeks now, but it had always been just the two of them. They would never go anywhere where they could be seen by other people or where anybody would recognise them. They always just hopped on his bike, hiding their faces with helmets and their clothes with thick leather jackets, until they were far enough to be sure that nobody could recognise them. _

_ “I am not sure, to be honest Betts,” he whispered, rolling back to lay on his back, “I don’t think it has anything to do with us.” He paused for a moment, staring at the sky, as if he was looking for an answer among the stars. When he stayed silent, Betty took it upon herself to talk.  _

_ “My mom would kill me, if she found out I was seeing you. She has this, I don’t even know why, but she holds this insane grudge against the Southside. I have tried asking her about it once, but she sent me to my room, to go and mind my own business, but then I heard her crying that night. Up until then, I just thought she hated the Southside from a principle, but that made me think she had lost somebody important to it. And I think she wants to protect me from that kind of heartbreak, by keeping me as polished and as northside-like as possible; I think she is trying to protect me from repeating her mistakes,” Betty whispered.  _

_ She felt a tear escape her eye, rolling down her cheek. Her mom might be a bitch to her half of the time, a controlling freak and emotionless as a stone, but she still was her mom. Betty still loved her, still cared for her and she still hated seeing her hurt. _

_ “My father, he is…” Jughead started, but his voice just gave up. Betty moved her hand, to find his and to hold him, to let him know that she was there and that he could lean on her. It took him a few deep breaths to find the power in himself to continue.  _

_ “I was in the fifth grade, when I won this writing competition in my school,” he whispered with a shaky voice, “I got so excited because I got invited to the next round that was to be held in Riverdale High. I ran all the way home, couldn’t wait to tell him. Couldn’t wait to make him feel proud of me, like I wasn’t a disappointment. But that wasn’t what happened.” Jughead took a sharp breath in, squeezing his eyes shut; the memories were just too much. “He said that I couldn’t go. That no Jones would step on the Northside ever again. And then, to prove his point, he broke my right arm.”  _

_ A sob escaped Betty’s mouth. She immediately felt Jughead’s hands around her, hugging her as more and more tears started escaping from her eyes.  _

_ “It’s okay, babydoll. I am okay,” he whispered into her hair, placing small kisses on her hairline.  _

_ “I should be the one comforting you, not the other way around,” she laughed, through the tears at the irony of this situation.  _

_ He was the one with an abusive father, he was the one that had gotten beaten up and after all that, she was the one who was crying her eyes out. She didn’t understand, she couldn’t understand how a person could be that mean, that horrible, to do that to his own son. To his growing son, who was just exploring the world, excited about achieving his dreams. How could somebody just go and take that excitement from him. _

_ “I have already dealt with it,” he shrugged and continued soothing her until the crying died down. _

_ “Has he done it more times?” Betty asked quietly, not sure if she wasn’t crossing a line. She didn’t want to push him - she didn’t want to make him talk about something that caused him pain. She didn’t want to be a reason why he had to revisit those old memories - ones he had no doubt pushed as far to back of his mind as possible. _

_ “Few more times but I think I have learnt my lesson - talking about Northside is not allowed under any circumstances. Everything even remotely connected to the other side of town is bad and forbidden,” he whispered.  _

_ It hurt Betty to even think how hard it must have been for him to grow up in such environment. And how he somehow still grew up to be more tolerant of the Northside than most of the people. How instead of giving in to his father’s ideology, he became this open-minded person, who treated her with nothing but respect and love. _

_ “Why don’t you hate me?” she asked suddenly, “I mean, all your life, your father had been abusing you into thinking that northsiders are the worst people. Why don’t you hate me?”  _

_ The question was kept hanging in air; he stayed silent, thinking about the answer. _

_ “I don’t know,” he whispered after a while, “when I first saw you, back in the Wyrm, I thought of you as just another pretentious northsider, who has come to the other side of tracks to get hammered and have fun. And then in Pop’s, when Sweet Pea was flirting his ass off with you, or at least trying to, I felt angry. Angry about the fact, that he was rude to a random person, that he made assumptions about you. I confronted him about it and he called me a pussy, saying I wouldn’t have it in me to date a northsider - that I would never be enough for one. And I don’t know why, it really hit me then - I wouldn’t be enough for a northsider, I would end up just like my father. But my father hadn’t been enough for a southsider either. And that shit, the thought of ending up as alone and as bitter as he did, it scared the hell out of me. I realised that having prejudices, holding grudges; nothing was validated. It was all just made up shit and I didn’t want to be any part of it, I didn’t want to do anything, that would take me a step closer to becoming like him.” _

_ Betty understood. From his voice, from what he had told her, she understood the kind of man his father was. She understood why Jughead was afraid. She understood that he wasn’t afraid of the beatings, that he wasn’t afraid of the ugly words his father spoke. The thing that scared shit out of him was that one day, he would be just like him. That if he let the hate overtake him, if he let the prejudices consume him, he would end up being just as bitter as his father. _

_ “Juggie,” Betty whispered, taking his face into her hands, “you are not your father. You are not hateful, you are not abusive. You are the most caring guy I have ever met. You listen to me, you make sure I am always comfortable. You will never be like him, because you are already so much more.”  _

_ Tears coated his eyes immediately. He was about to open his mouth to say something, but Betty didn’t want to hear it. She knew he would say something about the fact that it might be inevitable, but that wasn’t the truth. The truth was, that he couldn’t become like him even if he wanted to, that there wasn’t enough of evilness in him to be like his father. _

_ So she pressed her lips to his and kissed him senseless.  _

_ And she continued kissing him all night, until all of the tears have dried and for every bad memory, there was a new one, a much better one, to replace it. _

  
  
  


_ “I don’t mind this,” Betty whispered, when Jug pulled up by the end of her street, “not telling anyone about us.” She knew for sure that she wanted to keep being with him - he was kind, he was funny and he saw the world in a completely different way than her; a way she was eager to explore more. _

_ “Me neither,” he smiled, putting his arms around her waist. She pressed a small peck on his lips, which made him smile even more. _

_ “We have the whole summer, without any responsibilities, without any commitments. Well, almost any. I still need to show up for work and you still need to be there for Serpents. So how about we spend the rest of our time together? Just for the summer, until the reality catches up on us,” she proposed.  _

_ They both were aware that there was too much hatred, too much prejudice in this town - they couldn’t be together in public and there was no way they would be able to be together during school. With all the responsibilities, keeping a secret like this would be too much of a burden. Putting an end date to it, an expiration date, was their best option - that way they could prepare for what was about to come - they could prepare for the upcoming pain. That way, they maybe could stop themselves from falling too deep. _

_ “I’d like that, babydoll,” he whispered against her lips. _

_ They might have set themselves up for an inevitable heartbreak - but they were young and felt indestructible - so how much could a little pain hurt?  _

  
  


_ *** _

  
  


Betty and Jughead sat on the floor of old drive-in’s projection room, watching a very predictable rom-com on Netflix and eating Chinese take-out. Betty enjoyed days like these - when they managed to escape from their responsibilities and just hide somewhere far away from everybody. It reminded her of their carefree summer, it reminded her of freedom, even though they were hiding between four walls. 

But with passing time, the number of moments like this was quickly decreasing. They couldn’t hang out during the school and after school their schedules often didn’t line up. Betty was preoccupied with the Blue and Gold and she had Vixen practices with Veronica almost every afternoon. When she finally was free, it was often Jughead who was needed by Serpents or by the Wyrm. Their meetings were getting shorter and the wait for the next one was always longer than for the one before. Betty knew there was nothing she could do about it, as there was nothing she could do about the ache in her heart every time he rode away from her. So, she did the most she could to treasure moments they had, going into each of them with hope it wouldn’t be their last one.

“You are not watching,” Jughead said, pausing the movie, “what’s going on?” 

He must have not been watching either, or he wouldn’t have noticed her staring blankly into the wall.

“It’s nothing,” Betty shrugged and reached to unpause the movie, but he stopped her.

“Tell me,” he said, looking deeply into her eyes. 

He had really pretty eyes - a shade of blue that she couldn’t exactly pinpoint. It wasn’t like a sky, it wasn’t like an ocean. It was unique, it was like him. She could get lost in those eyes forever.

She sighed, “I just miss you. I feel like we never have time for each other anymore.” She paused, dreading to say what was on her mind all along. “And I don’t know if I can keep going.” 

Even whispering those words, made her heart ache.

“I’m sorry babydoll,” he whispered, “but we knew it was going to be like this.” 

He was right, but it didn’t take the pain away. 

“That’s why we agreed on an end date. Now, we are paying for not keeping it. We may not be together anymore, but the expiration date was supposed to end it all. You know that,” Jughead continued.

Of course, Betty knew that. After all, it was her who suggested it, knowing that it was their only option on how to enjoy the summer and manage to keep their sanity after it.

“I know, but how could I stop being friends with you? It took us one summer, just one, to get to know each other better than any of our friends know us. So how could we just leave that behind?” Betty asked, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. 

She told Jughead things she had never shared with Kevin or Veronica - she told him about her deepest fears, she told him her silliest dreams. She told him about her first crush and she told him about her awkward first sex (which if anybody else asked her about, she would deny that it happened). 

And he didn’t hold back either - he told her all about his broken family, about his abusive father and drug-addicted mother that has left them behind. About his sister, who he loved deeply although he hadn’t seen her in years. He told her about his love for writing and about how he had to trade the pen for a Serpent jacket when he was 15. But he also told her how he grew into it; how he got to power; how he learnt to love the community and family Serpents offered him. 

During the summer, they got to see each other naked in every sense of word - they might have spent countless nights buried deeply in each other, whispering sweet nothings, but they also spent countless nights talking about what made them them. They created a bond - a one that was deeper than just a physical relationship - they connected on a spiritual level, as if they had found a soulmate in each other.

“I think we both knew that it would end like this since the moment we made that agreement. But let me tell you, every second I spent with you, it was worth this pain. If I could, I would do it all over again. Hell, I would even do it a million more times,” tears started slipping from his eyes, which broke the dam that was holding Betty’s in. She knew he hated crying in front of her, but she secretly admired him for not pretending to be strong when he felt broken.

“I guess it’ll be better that way. Going our separate ways, for real this time. We tried being friends, we genuinely gave it a shot. It didn’t work out - and this, this is just hurting both of us,” her voice was shaking. 

She never wanted to have to say this to him, never wanted to have to leave him. She was fine with being friends, but this wasn’t even a friendship. This was just a torture. They barely ever found time to talk and to coordinate their schedules to meet was even harder. She was trying to be friend to a ghost of him - never present, never enough.

“Probably yeah,” he whispered with shaky voice. 

Betty went in for a hug, to comfort him, but then she stopped in her tracks. 

She should probably leave. Ripping the band-aid off is better done quickly. If she took him into her arms once again, if she felt his skin rubbing against hers, the heat of his body against hers; she probably would never leave.

“I think I should go,” Betty whispered. She looked at Jughead sitting on the floor, looking at her with glassy eyes. The rom-com was still paused and her food was left unfinished. But she wasn’t really hungry anymore.

“I can drop you off,” he offered. Betty thought about curling to his back on his motorcycle, about feeling the air in her hair, feeling of the freedom in her veins. But then, it may not be the best idea.

“I think I need the walk,” she shook her head. She picked up her stuff and headed for the door.

“Betts?” he called after her, as she was opening the door. She turned back, looking him into eyes, waiting for what he had to say. He looked broken, she thought. But then, she probably didn’t look any better.

“I think I…” he started, but his voice trailed off. 

She knew what he wanted to say; it was written all over his face. The same thing that she had been forcing out of her own mind. But it would do them no good; saying it, hearing it.

“I know,” she just said with a small smile and closed the door behind her. 

_ Deep breaths Betty, inhale, hold, exhale. And repeat. _

_ Let the tears out, it will make you feel better. _

It took her long 10 minutes of just standing with her back against the door she had just closed, trying to calm down enough to be able to walk home - she was just hoping that Jughead wouldn’t leave the projection room. She didn’t want him to see her there, to see her this broken. And she didn’t know if she would be able to leave if she saw him as broken as she was.

_ It was for the best, _ she thought to herself. They couldn’t be together, they couldn’t be friends. All they could be was strangers once again. 

They just didn’t meet during the right time of their lives; she knew, that under any other circumstances, they would have been perfect for each other. They would be the love story people would talk about, the one books were written about, the one movies were made about.

It just wasn’t now.

Time just wasn’t right.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love all of you, thank you so much for all the kudos and comments <3 You are amazing.
> 
> Let me know what you think of this chapter in comments below... I hope it wasn't too sad? (I might have cried a bit while writing it tbh)
> 
> betad by the awesome @peyton_0727
> 
> tumblr: catthecoder


	5. Chapter 5

Betty was sitting in Pop’s with Veronica and Archie, mindlessly pushing food around her plate. She thought it would help - french fries had always been her favourite comfort food and she felt like if there was one cure, it would certainly be eating them. But they didn’t taste like they used to - they weren’t warm and crispy on the outside while still being mushy on the inside. They felt soggy and cold, as if they were made for someone who then decided to reject them. 

Her mind was killing her. 

She couldn’t stop the screaming inside, she couldn’t dull it in any way. 

She tried over-shouting it, which made everything just ten times worse. 

She tried dulling it by taking painkillers until she passed out in her bed, with tears dried on her cheeks. 

She didn’t know what to do anymore, other than hope that it would pass. That it would be time that would heal her.

“Are you okay? You have barely eaten anything,” Archie asked her, lightly brushing his fingers against her hand. Betty looked him into eyes, filled with genuine concern and care for his friend and somehow, she felt the screaming in her head calm down a bit.

“Yeah,” she whispered, not really trusting her voice with more. She didn’t want to cause a scene in Pop’s - she was stronger than that. 

“Are you sure? You don’t look well,” Veronica said, her voice laced with concern. 

They cared for her and she wanted to tell them - she wanted to tell them everything - but she knew they wouldn’t understand. Just like they didn’t understand why she didn’t trash Serpents in her article, just like they didn’t understand when she told them that Toni joined her in the Blue and Gold. They might have been her friends, they might have loved her with all of their hearts, but that was still nothing compared to their hate and prejudices towards the Southside.

“Just haven’t been sleeping well,” Betty shrugged, hoping that would be enough for them, but from the look their faces, they didn’t look satisfied..

“This isn’t your tired face Betty. If I hadn’t known better, I would say this was your heartbroken face,” Veronica said, looking deeply into Betty’s eyes as if she was trying to see into her soul through them, “what’s going on?” 

Betty couldn’t handle the intense stare of her friend, she needed to look away. She turned her head to face the window, to look outside, only to regret the decision immediately.

There, two bikes had been parked. Betty didn’t need to look twice to recognise who the two figures standing there were -  _ why was this happening to her? _

Once she saw them, she couldn’t tear her eyes away - he looked so carefree, so happy. Just lounging against his bike, with his messy black hair and fitted leather jacket. He looked good, from what Betty could tell - he looked like he hadn’t been crying his eyes out last few days. 

And she felt a spark of happiness for him, a genuine happiness that he wasn’t suffering. 

She moved her eyes to look at Toni, who met her eyes almost immediately. She slightly smiled and gave her a little wave; they usually did that since she joined the Blue and Gold. They didn’t act like they were friends, because they really weren’t; but there always was a nod of acknowledgement between them. They didn’t deny knowing each other - although she assumed that Toni’s friends had a similar opinion to two of them hanging together as did Betty’s. But they never talked about that either.

When she saw Jughead turn his head to see who Toni was waving at, she quickly turned her head away. She knew that he would see her; but he didn’t need to see her staring at him. 

“I am still not comfortable with you spending time alone with a Serpent,” Archie said, making Betty turn her attention to him. 

_ What? Did he mean Jughead? How could he know? And she wasn’t spending time with him anymore, so what was he talking about? _

“Yeah, Toni gives me creeps,” Veronica said, shaking a bit to emphasise her words. 

_Oh,_ _that_ _Serpent_. 

“I don’t understand what your problem is with Toni. She’s really nice,” Betty said, defensively. She might not have been close with Toni but that didn’t mean that she wasn’t a good person. All of the Southsiders were good people. 

“I would watch my back if I were you and not leave anything valuable within her reach,” Veronica offered, which made Betty’s blood boil a bit.

“One question, why would you assume that she is just some kind of petty thief?” Betty had to ask. 

She didn’t want to argue with Veronica, but she didn’t want to hear her talking about another person like that. She might not know Toni but that gave her no right to assume anything about her, especially anything like that.

“You know,” Veronica shrugged, looking to Archie for help.

“She is a Serpent, Betty. They are all criminals,” he offered, to which Betty almost let out a scoff. 

There they were, her friends, generalising people. You were either a Northsider and a saint or a Southsider and a criminal. There was no grey area, no in-between - just either and or. 

“Archie, have you ever talked with someone from the Southside? I mean  _ really _ talked? And listened to them?” Betty asked her temper starting to rise.

At this point, she didn’t even care - her head felt like it was going to explode from all the shouting inside of it and now, with Archie and Veronica acting like complete idiots, she just couldn’t pretend everything was alright. She couldn’t pretend to not care, to just hate like everybody else did.

“Why would I do that?” he laughed, “I don’t need to hear their bullshit.” 

“Well, maybe you should try it for once. You would be surprised to see that they aren’t all that different from us.” 

The look on Archie and Veronica’s face was just more proof to Betty of how ignorant her friends were - they just stared at her blankly, as if she just told them the biggest secret of the universe.

“What has gotten into you recently?” Veronica ask, looking at Betty as if she had been body snatched, “I feel like I don’t even know you anymore.”

“I feel like I don’t know you either V,” Betty shook her head, “since when do you have so many prejudices?” 

Honestly, Veronica looked a bit shocked by Betty’s accusation. She probably expected an apology or an explanation, but certainly not to be called out on her acting. 

“I- I don’t know what you mean,” she stuttered, to which Betty only scoffed. The pretending to be innocent wouldn’t help her now.

“Leave it Betty,” Archie said sharply. Betty looked at him with a raised eyebrow, to see if he had anything else to say, but he stayed silent.

“Don’t act all innocent Arch. You jumped on the first opportunity you had to get into a fight with them. I bet you and the Bulldogs only waited for a reason to beat them up, that’s why you were so eager to protect my integrity. I didn’t ask you to do it, I didn’t want you to do it!” Betty shouted the last words. She didn’t realise that she was raising her voice, she just got so riled up. That combined with the unstopping screaming in her mind made her a little mad.

“Jones was way out of line! I know you don’t need my protection, but somebody had to show him where he belongs,” Archie explained himself. 

“And you surely did exactly that Arch. For god’s sake, he is a gang leader! He could have had you on the floor without even moving a single finger!” Betty shouted in a despair. 

Archie might have had muscles and strength, but it was nothing compared to Jughead’s speed and agility and mainly nothing compared to Jughead’s authority. Bulldogs were cowards, she had seen it often with her own eyes; but Serpents were a family. They would do anything for Jughead without even batting an eye, knowing he would do the same for them.

“I am the quarterback of Bulldogs, so it’s basically the same,” Archie said, which made laugh escape from Betty’s mouth.

“It’s not even close, Arch. Bulldog’s are a school club, they might be your friends, but they are not your family. They will be with you through the good but expect them to leave you alone when you are down. That’s the difference, you know. Between Northsiders and Southsiders. We live in our perfectly clean homes, with our polished furniture and colourful gardens. But we keep our doors locked and blinds shut, so the neighbors don’t hear us plotting against them. We have built this facade to hide behind, to protect us and it pushes us away from each other. There is nothing like that on the Southside. They are a community, they trust each other, they work together. They can rely on each other. They are more of a family than Northside could even  _ imagine _ to be. They are so much more than we could ever  _ hope _ to be.” Betty stopped. 

She needed to catch her breath, her head was spiralling out of control. 

She needed air.

She quickly got up, ignoring Archie’s shouts after her and headed towards the door, only to see Toni and Jughead sitting in the next booth. 

From the looks on their faces, she deduced that they had overheard everything, which made her head spiral even more. There goes her not wanting to cause a scene in Pop’s.

She saw Jughead opening his mouth, to say something. But she didn’t want to hear it. She was sure it would only bring her pain and she had enough of that. So, she just shook her head and he understood and closed his mouth slowly. She knew he could see the despair in her eyes, the sadness. But he let her walk out of Pop’s anyway, because who was she to him?

Before? Possibly everything.

But now? 

Now she was nothing.

  
  


***

_ Betty was getting ready in her room, while Jughead sat on the floor waiting for her. They were planning on going to the Greendale’s amphitheatre that was just outside of the town that night because during the summer, the amphitheatre showed a movie there twice a week. They gave you blankets to keep you warm after the sun had set and you could buy the biggest bowl of popcorn. The two of them had already been once and they really enjoy it and since tonight they were showing Pulp Fiction, they just couldn’t miss it. _

_ “You know, I have been thinking,” Jughead said. _

  
  
  


_ “Yeah?” Betty answered from her bathroom. _

_ “It’s kinda stupid,” he laughed awkwardly, which caught Betty’s full attention. She peaked out of the bathroom, only to find him playing with one of her fluffy pillows and slightly blushing. _

_ “Jughead Jones, is that a blush I see?” she asked teasingly. He rolled his eyes and threw the pillow at her, but Betty’s reflexes were quick, and she managed to hide her head before the pillow hit the door. _

_ “What has been on your mind?” she asked him, once she was sure coast was clear.  _

_ “It’s just… I know we aren’t dating or anything and we don’t want to label this,” he started.  _

_ He was actually the one to suggest not putting a label on them, he thought it would make things easier. She agreed, she didn’t want to think about calling him her boyfriend only to have to break up at the end of the summer. And also, labels are mostly for other people to understand your relationship and they definitely didn’t need one for that. _

_ “But I want you to know, that for the time being, I am fully yours,” he said, moving his eyes to meet hers, “we aren’t dating but the best way to explain it is that I promise you I will not cheat on you. And I was hoping you could promise me the same thing.” She walked over to him and sat down on his legs. _

_ “I promise you, I am just yours,” Betty whispered to him, looking him deeply into eyes. A wide smile instantly grew on his face and she just couldn’t resist kissing him.  _

_ She was his and he was hers. _

_ They ended up missing the movie but there were no regrets from either of them. _

  
  
  


_ Kevin’s desperate need to find a boyfriend and Betty’s weak attempts on stopping him were how she ended up standing nervously in front of the Whyte Wyrm and waiting for him to get there. He was late, but that was nothing new. If they were meeting anywhere else, she would have already gone inside, but she didn’t feel like entering the beast of the belly on her own.  _

_ She didn’t tell Jughead that she was coming tonight, she didn’t even know if he was working. She knew that he took about three shifts a week, but he usually hung out there on his nights off as well. The Wyrm was something of a home base for Serpents - they ran everything from there. Betty even knew that they had a meeting space of some sorts somewhere and that some of storage rooms had been transformed to serve as compact studios - either for full time stay or when somebody got too drunk to get home on their own. _

_ “I am sorry I am late, I had to sneak out my party attire,” she heard Kevin as he got out of his Uber, “I promised dad that I wouldn’t go partying after last time and he wouldn’t believe me that I was going to a sleepover dressed like this.”  _

_ They both got way too drunk the last time they came to Wyrm; when they arrived at Kevin’s house the sun was already rising and they thought they were really quiet, but they somehow broke a vase in their front room. They both had to promise Kevin’s dad that they wouldn’t do it again and then they had to beg him not to tell Betty’s mom. This time, they planned it better - Betty’s parents were out of the city on some conference for journalist, which meant they could crash at her place without worrying about waking up anybody. _

_ “It’s okay, I haven’t been here for that long,” Betty shrugged. _

_ “By the way, you look gorgeous! Is that shirt new? Oh, and is that bra new? Are you trying to hook up with somebody?”  _

_ Betty just winked at him as an answer. _

_ She was wearing high-waisted shorts that nicely showed her long tan legs (the running was really paying off) and black see-through crop-top with embroidered red flowers. It was long-sleeved, so she didn’t feel like she was showing too much of skin by leaving her belly exposed. She left her hair down and used a bit more makeup than usually - completing the look with the red lipstick again. _

_ “You go girl!” was all Kevin said before dragging her into the loud bar.  _

_ They headed straight for the bar, but there was no sign of Jughead anywhere. Not that she wanted him to see her, but she didn’t dress herself nicely just like that. She wasn’t here to flirt with other guys, she was his after all.  _

_ She wanted to surprise him, to see his reaction when he spotted her on the dance floor. She wanted him to drag her somewhere and fuck her senseless; that’s what had been on her mind while she was picking out the outfit. She might text him later, a drunk selfie with Kevin would work like a charm surely to get him here. Yeah, she would do that later. _

  
  


_ It turned out that she didn’t need to drag him to Wyrm, he was already there - after an hour or so, she had noticed him sitting in a booth in the back of the dance floor with some Serpents. She recognised one to be Sweet Pea but she couldn’t see enough of the other two to make out their faces. _

_ Now she needed to come up with a plan to get his attention - she didn’t want to have to walk over there. Maybe that selfie would be a good idea. She had managed to drag Kevin to a place that was lit well enough for them to take a couple of photos together - in all of them it could clearly be seen that they were too drunk to stand without leaning onto each other. They had arms around each other’s shoulders and faces squished close together, to make sure they fit into the picture. That needed to be enough to get his attention. _

**B** : ~sent a photo~

**B** : come and find me

_ She just put her phone back into her jeans and continued dancing with Kevin, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to resist her. _

_ But he wasn’t coming. It had been another hour and she got no response from him. When she tried checking out the table he was sitting at before, it was empty. Her heart sunk a little. She motioned Kevin that she was going to use the bathroom to which he just nodded and turned to dance with some guy that was near him. _

_ The bathroom was to her surprise quite empty. There was only one other girl expect for her, who was just leaving as she got in.  _

_ Betty went straight to the mirror at first, to fix her makeup and reapply lipstick quickly. She looked at herself in the mirror - she certainly looked soberer than she was. She ignored the sound of door opening and closing, until she heard him speak. _

_ “You little tease,” Jughead said, looking at her hungrily, “you come to my bar, dressed like that? You know how I had to control myself not to grab and fuck you right there on the dance floor? Just imagine, coming between all of those people. Nobody would hear you scream through the music, only me.”  _

_ Betty’s knees started shaking. He looked like a sin tonight, and the way he talked to her, oh, it was doing things to her body. _

_ “Then why didn’t you?” Betty asked him, challenged him. He moved closer to her, slowly pushing her back until she ended up pressed against one of the stalls. _

_ “I had a meeting, you know,” he whispered into her ear, “a quite important one. Just imagine what that picture did to me, to my body.” He groaned and pressed against her, so she would feel what exactly she did to him.  _

_ “Just be glad I didn’t walk over there and didn’t try to seduce you like I wanted to do,” she purred, rubbing against his leg, “Mr. Jones, I think you are late and overdressed for our meeting.”  _

_ A deep groan has left his lips, which just made her smile. She loved that she had the same effect on him as he had on her, that her words could cause him the same pleasure as his did to her. _

_ “Something tells me I am not the one in control here tonight,” he chuckled. _

_ “Just shut up and kiss me already,” Betty groaned and pulled his face to hers. _

  
  


_ *** _

  
  


“Thanks for coming for me,” Betty said as she got into Kevin’s car, “I just couldn’t walk home.” 

It took her solid 15 minutes to calm down the panic attack that she felt coming onto herself and to call Kevin to come and get her, because she wasn’t in a state to walk home.

“No problem,” he smiled, “you wanna talk about it?” He knew better than to push her, it would only cause her to cry and spiral more. 

But Betty knew she owed him an explanation - he deserved it and if anybody was going to understand and support her, it was he. 

“Not really, but I think I should. For the sake of my sanity, you know,” she laughed, which pushed more tears out of her eyes. 

Kevin reached to sooth her knee a bit and just his presence calmed her down. She was glad she called him, she needed to be with somebody now more than she realised.

They drove in silence, until Kevin reached a parking spot near Sweetwater river. When Betty looked at him questioningly, he just smiled and winked at her. They got out of the car and walked a bit, Kevin leading her somewhere apparently. She used to come to the river quite often, but she wasn’t completely sure on where he was taking her.

When they emerged from the trees, she was left breathless. There was this small meadow with a pond, which covered in moonlight looked magically. She followed Kevin’s lead as he sat down and leaned against a huge tree. They observed the view for a while silently, Betty wondering how come she had never found this place.

“I used to come here a lot, to think. Back when I was discovering my sexuality, this had been my safe place,” he started, and Betty listened, “I had my first kiss over there.” He motioned to one tree. Betty could clearly imagine the picture of Kevin kissing some boy shyly over there and it made her smile.

“I just always felt safe here. It was just my place and it made happy. I didn’t need to live up to the expectations of being sheriff’s son here, I didn’t need to pretend to be straight, so my conservative part of family wouldn’t judge me. I could be just me and it made me feel powerful,” he said, looking dreamily into the woods. 

Then he fell silent and Betty decided that it was her turn to speak.

“I felt that too. The freedom,” she whispered, closing her eyes and inhaling deeply the smell of the forest, “I felt more myself than ever before. I didn’t have to pretend, I didn’t have to live up to expectations of anybody. I could be just me and I think, that somewhere along the way, I-,” deep breath, in and out, “I think I fell in love.”

There it was - the words she had dreaded to admit to herself, but she knew that they were inevitable. There was no denying, no going around it, no pretending it didn’t happen. It was there and there was nothing she could do with it other than accept it.

“I fell love with the freedom, I fell in love with feeling air in my hair, I fell in love with the tingling of sun on my skin. I fell in love with a guy as well - with the way he paid attention to me, with the way he treated me as if I was the most important person on the planet. With his smile that could outshine all the stars and with his eyes I could lose myself in over and over again.” Betty paused for a moment, trying to organise her thoughts.

“But most importantly, I think, I fell in love with myself - after a long time, I was genuinely happy, Kev. My life had never been so beautiful before, I have never been so excited for the next day. And I had to let go of that.” 

Betty only whispered the last words, realising what she just said. Realising what she had done - she had let go of her happiness. 

She didn’t even notice that she was crying again until she felt Kevin’s arms around her body, after she heard his comforting whispers in her ears. She didn’t know how she had any more tears left - she felt like she had been crying for the last week straight.

It took her a long time before she was finally able to breathe normally again. She sat up straight, shamefully looking into Kevin’s face, but found nothing but understanding and support in his eyes. It almost made her cry again, just seeing her friend being there for her, showing her unconditional love and friendship.

“Betty, listen to me,” Kevin said and pushed at her chin to make sure she was looking into his eyes, “crying won’t help. I am sorry, but it won’t. You need to either forget about him and move on or go and get your man back. And considering the way Jughead looks at you, I would strongly suggest the second option.” 

Betty’s mouth opened to stare at him at shock, to which he just winked at her.

“You think I wouldn’t notice anything,  _ babydoll _ ?” he asked her, smirking, “I will not get mad at you for not telling me, but you owe me a milkshake. No, two at least.” 

He was unbelievable.

“How?” was the first question she needed to ask.

“Betty, I am your best friend. You think I haven’t noticed how often you had something to do during the summer and how radiant you always looked? I knew there was a boy, I just didn’t know who. But then, at the beginning of September, in Pop’s, you had been gone way too long to just go to the toilet. Jughead leaving bathrooms minutes before and then you came out, literally glowing, it wasn’t that hard to put two and two together. Once I knew, I couldn’t ignore it - you both had serious heart eyes for each other. After the fight, I heard him call you that,  _ babydoll. _ I heard the confidence in his voice, but I also heard love. I knew I wasn’t wrong. And you also called him Jug - who does something like that?”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Betty asked. He had apparently known for a long time now, so why not just ask her sooner?

“You know, during summer, it kind of bugged me, why wouldn’t you tell me anything. But once I realised who he was, I understood why you didn’t say anything. You thought that nobody would understand. But I am telling you now that I understand, and I am here for you, okay?” he said, holding her hand in his. 

Betty just nodded, before taking him into a tight hug. 

She knew that this hadn’t fixed anything, it hadn’t fixed her and Jughead, it hadn’t fixed her and Veronica and Archie. 

But it started to fix her and that was the first step.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank y'all for reading, I appreciate ever single one of you.
> 
> thanks to the best beta out there @peyton_0727
> 
> As always, keep all your thoughts and opinions in the comment section below <3
> 
> find me on tumblr: @catthecoder


	6. Chapter 6

When Betty woke up the following day, she felt surprisingly rested and ready to conquer the world. 

Okay, maybe not the world, but talking to Jughead was definitely on her list. 

And Veronica and Archie. 

She probably could try to catch Archie before school - they could walk together - they haven’t done that in a long time. She got ready as quickly as she could so he wouldn’t leave before she got to his house.

When he opened the front door to find Betty standing there, a genuine surprise appeared on his face.

“What are you doing here?” he asked her.

“I thought we could walk to school together,” she offered with a small smile, “and you know, talk.”

“Give me just a few minutes, okay?” he said letting her into the hall of his house. 

He disappeared upstairs and Betty took out her phone. She had been thinking about what to say to Jughead, but she didn’t know if she should contact him and try to set up a meeting or just hope to catch him somewhere alone. Before she could decide, Archie came back, ready to leave.

They walked in a silence at first, neither of them really knowing what to say.

“Look Arch, you are my friend and I value your opinion but I need you to do the same for me. You have to see how irrational you have been, regarding the Serpents,” Betty started. 

She was going to explain herself and try to make him understand, but she wasn’t going to apologise for protecting the Serpents.

“I just want you to be safe,” he said after a while, “you’re like a sister to me and when you talk about the Serpents like that, I am afraid you’ll get into trouble. They might be a family, but they still are a gang Betty, don’t forget about that.” 

She almost wanted to laugh, how could she ever forget that? The bruises and cuts that often appeared all over Jughead’s body were enough of a reminder for her. He promised her that he was always safe and in control, but it didn’t make her worry any less.

“I know that, but they often don’t choose that life - they just have no other option. It’s not okay to judge someone when you don’t know anything about their life. I mean, how would you feel if they judged you just by the simple fact that you’re a Bulldog?” Betty said, looking at her friend. 

She needed him to understand her, to see that not everybody was as evil as they were made out to be others. She needed this, she needed a win that would give her hope for her relationship with Jughead. Hope, that if she maybe got Archie to understand, than maybe others would too.

Archie furrowed his brows, “Are you still pissed about the fight? Is that what this is about? Because if you remember correctly, he provoked me. I gave him chance to back out and he continued pissing me off.” 

Betty sighed, trying not to get frustrated with her friend. 

“No, just forget about the fight,” she said, trying to keep her tone even, “I need you to see how irrational your hatred towards the Serpents is.” 

There was no going around it, no bubble wrap, nothing - just plain and simple truth.

“But it’s not irrational Betty, they’re a gang, a gang that does dangerous things. Why can’t you see that?”

She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath not quite ready to admit to her friend and herself why she couldn’t see it. 

Opening her eyes, she tried a different approach. “But does the gang pose any threat to you? Have you done anything to piss them off, anything that would give them a reason to have a problem with you?”

“Apart from beating them up?” Archie chuckled, “I guess not.” 

That was exactly what Betty wanted to hear.

“So then it’s irrational, Arch. They won’t attack you, they have no reason to. They don’t care about you, they don’t even care about northsiders. They just care about being treated like normal human beings,” she said, looking at Archie. 

He nodded, frowning a bit. She could tell he was mulling his words over in his mind.

“You might be onto something, Nancy Drew,” he said smiling, “look I am not saying I am going to be best friends with any of them any time soon. But I guess I won’t mind you hanging out with Toni that much anymore.” 

Betty almost squealed from happiness - not that she needed his approval or anything like that. But he was her friend, her oldest friend and she was glad he was at least partly on her side. With him, the task at hand didn’t seem all that terrifying anymore.

They talked the rest of the way to school about his summer mostly - he admitted to Betty that he was the happiest he had ever been during that time. When he was able to travel the world, when he was free of any responsibilities, of any obligations, when he could just play music and be with his friends. He said that at first he had been scared - even though he was a great friend with Valerie, he and Josie hadn’t always seen eye to eye and he hadn’t had any previous relationship with Melody. But over the summer, their experience had bonded them together and he was sure that their futures would be tied closely together.

Betty listened closely to everything he said - she loved hearing about what people were passionate about. Plus, seeing the grin on Archie’s face widen with every memory; the feeling of pride and happiness in her couldn’t simply be contained. 

In a way, he reminded her of herself during the summer - the most herself she had ever been in her entire life.

***

_ “Okay, how about this, if you could have one superpower, what it would be?” Jughead asked Betty.  _

_ It was pretty late - they had driven all the way to Greendale and then hiked up a hill that was behind the city. The views from it were astounding and there was this spot to start out a small fire when the night got cold. They packed tons of marshmallows, chocolate and biscuits, because who doesn’t love s’mores, right?  _

_ “I would love to be able to fly,” she said, which made Jughead laugh, “stop it! It’s not that much of a cliche. I would love to see the world from above, from a completely different perspective. And I think I would also enjoy the feeling of it - I kind of imagine it to be as if I was riding your bike but I wouldn’t have to hold on - just experiencing freedom in full.”  _

_ He laughed some more, which caused Betty to playfully push him with her foot, but she laughed as well. He was right, it was a cliche superpower. Nonetheless, she didn’t care. _

_ “Okay, so tell me yours and hope it’s not a cliche because you will not survive that,” she challenged him with a smirk. _

_ “I would love to be able to read minds,” he started seriously, looking Betty into eyes.  _

_ “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she said, shaking her head.  _

_ She looked him dead into the eye and that was the push he needed to get over the edge and erupt into a genuine laughter. _

_ “I am kidding, Betts,” he said, after he caught his breath, “I would love to be able to control probability.” Okay, that was pretty non-cliche.  _

_ “What do you mean by that?” she asked, reaching to take another marshmallow from the bag.  _

_ “You know, what is the probability that world hunger would end tomorrow? Zero? Let’s make that hundred. Or what is the probability that nobody will get cancer this year? I could make it zero,” he said, with a voice coated with pride and happiness, “I would be able to help so many people, I could make the world a better place just like that.” _

_ “Wow, you must have really thought about that,” Betty said.  _

_ It was really beautiful - seeing the spark in his eyes twinkle when he talked about something he thought about a lot. One could see how deeply he cared, how much he wanted to give others.  _

_ “Did you just ask me that question just so you could say yours?” she suddenly asked which made Jughead laugh.  _

_ “Maybe,” he answered with a wink, “your turn.” _

_ “Okay, let me think,” Betty said, thinking about what she should ask, “if you could do one thing and not face the consequences for doing it, what would you choose?” _

_ “I would leave the Serpents,” he said without missing a beat.  _

_ His answer floored her. Jughead loved the Serpents - didn’t he? They were his family, his friends. He was always so eager to be their leader, to be there for them, to support them. _

_ “I thought you loved them,” Betty asked quietly. _

_ “I do, I love them with all of my heart. But sometimes, I think about what my life would be without them - I would finish school and go to university and leave this town once and for all. I would move to New York and rebuild my life - find myself a nice apartment, finally write that novel I have always wanted to. Not have to worry about my or my friends’ safety non-stop. Not have to make the kind of decisions I have to make daily - ones that I think no teenager should have to make. I would just love to have a normal life for once and even though it would break my heart to leave them, my family, I just cannot have it here, with them,” Jughead said, looking deeply into Betty’s eyes, searching for understanding.  _

_ She nodded, seeing where he was coming from - he had told her a lot of positive things about Serpents but she knew that it was only one side of the coin. _

_ “I think if you really wanted to do it, leave I mean, you can. They are your family after all, they’ll understand it. If not at first, then eventually they will,” she said, trying to find the right words to encourage him, “you shouldn’t sacrifice your dreams for them.” _

_ “I have looked into some programs actually,” he admitted after a while, “but I am not sure if they would accept me. I barely have any skills in the field.” _

_ “Well, they won’t accept you if you don’t apply,” Betty said simply, “you should definitely go for it. You don’t have to make a decisions now, you’ll deal with that when you get the acceptance letter.”  _

_ She was going to make sure that he would send those applications out. Even though the Serpents were a huge part of his life, he couldn’t give up on his dreams for them - he would just end up hating his life if he did it and Betty didn’t want that for him. She wanted him to get out to the world, to build a life and name for himself, to truly live. _

_ “What about you? What would you do if you didn’t have to face any consequences?” he asked, changing the topic.  _

_ “My mom would kill me but I would get a tattoo,” Betty said, “it’s something I have wanted to do ever since I was twelve and my uncle came to one thanksgiving with full-tattoo sleeve. I made him sit with me for three hours straight and I wasn’t satisfied until I knew meaning of every single one of his tattoos. My mother hadn’t invited him to any other family reunion since then, honestly. But I fell in love with tattoos that day - I think we are all born as blank canvases and we tell our story with our appearances - the way we dress, the way we do our hair. And I find tattoos to be another part of the way we tell our story - by marking memories down on our bodies.”  _

_ She looked at Jughead, who was staring at her as if she just fell from the sky. _

_ “What?” Betty asked him with a small laugh. _

_ “Let’s get you a tattoo.”  _

_ He stood up and started packing things while Betty stared at him with amusement. _

_ “No, no, no. Where would we get a tattoo now? Everything is closed for sure. And have you missed the part about my mom killing me?” she asked and shook her head. It was nice that he wanted to make her dream come true, but it was extremely unrealistic.  _

_ He stopped and went over to her, to look her into eyes. _

_ “Do you trust me?” was all he asked. The blue of his eyes mesmerised her, it mesmerised her so much that she found herself nodding. That seemed like enough of consent for him, so he pulled her to her feet and when back to packing their things. _

_ “Jug, what are we doing?” she asked him as he made sure that their fire was put out properly.  _

_ “Just trust me babydoll,” he smiled and took her hand to get her going towards the bike. She obliged - not really having any other choice; she trusted him after all with her life. _

_ When they arrived back to Riverdale, it was some time after 4 am. The city was asleep and looked as peaceful as never before. Even the Whyte Wyrm, the place where Jughead decided to take them, was quiet. There were no bikers, no drunks, nobody, just the two of them. Jughead took out keys from his pocket and unlocked the front door to let her in. _

_ It was weird, seeing the Wyrm this empty. She had been there only handful of times, always at night, when it was heaving with drunk people and loud music. Now, the emptiness and silence made the space look eerie. So she just held onto Jughead’s hand, feeling the warmth of his hand and the fear slowly disappearing. _

_ “I should give you tour of this place, now that it’s empty,” he smiled, “you want to see it?” Betty just nodded, letting Jughead take the lead. _

_ “Well, you have seen the stage and the floor before, there’s nothing interesting there. The bar is as crappy as they get, but it serves it purpose. The real beauty of the Wyrm is behind the spaces that public can see, so let me show you,” he lead her behind the bar, into the door with a sign ‘entrance forbidden’. There was a long corridor with doors on either side of it. Each of the doors had a number on it and a peephole - as if there was an apartment on the other side. _

_ “Be quiet here, people are sleeping,” he whispered, “we have a dozen of rooms here, I think all of them are currently occupied. If a Serpent has nowhere to go, we always take them in. It doesn’t matter what the circumstances are - if they ended up homeless or just got into a trouble and now are scared of living out there - they can always seek refuge here.” He pulled her out of the corridor, to continue their tour. _

_ “I really admire it, you know,” Betty said, “how you take care of each other. No Serpent left behind, it’s not just a saying to you. It’s a reality.” _

_ “Yeah, well, in unity, there is strength,” he answered, “we have learnt that we need to stick together to survive and we are doing exactly that.” He took her to another ‘entrance forbidden’ doors. To her surprise, there were stairs that lead to the attic, which was anything but a typical attic. _

_ “This is our communal space - where we meet to hang out and relax and where we discuss business. It’s big enough so all Serpents fit here - so it’s mostly used for entertainment and only big meetings are held here. There is one smaller, much more boring, meeting room behind that door, but it’s really messy, so let’s not go there. We also have kitchen behind that door and bathrooms behind those,” he showed her.  _

_ Betty had to admit, the space was beautiful in it’s own way. They had a lot of couches placed all over the room - they were all mismatched and old, but they fit there just perfectly. There were also few rugs on the floor as well as some coffee tables and plants placed randomly on the floor. _

_ “Where did you get so many different pieces of furniture from?” Betty asked curiously. She had seen places with mismatched pieces - but this variety was just astounding. She couldn’t find two things in the whole room that looked like they came from the same set - even most of the tables had at least one different leg. _

_ “Serpents,” he answered simply, “whenever somebody either found a piece of furniture that was in a solid condition, or they bought something new and didn’t know what to do with the old one, they brought it here. At first, this space was used just for storage and exchange of items - you could freely come here, bring something and take something else. But as Wyrm grew more popular, Serpents couldn’t always hang out downstairs - it got too loud and there were too many people. So we started meeting up here - we used the furniture we had to create a social space for us. And the funny thing is, the exchange still works - sometimes, I come here and the coffee table I ate my lunch from the day before is gone and there is a new sofa instead.”  _

_ Betty smiled at that - it was little things like those that showed the strength of community. _

_ “And this is my office,” he opened door for her, “it’s a mess, sorry.”  _

_ It wasn’t that bad - the room was pretty small so there was just one desk with a chair and two, surprisingly matching, armchairs. There was a high shelf in one corner and a plant in the other. The desk was pretty messy - there were at least three mugs with different amounts of leftover coffee in them and piles on piles of papers. While Betty was taking in the room, Jughead went on and started looking through the drawers under his desk. _

_ “What are you looking for?” she asked, after she noticed how focused he was. _

_ “It should be somewhere here,” he said and then a smile appeared on his face. He pulled out quite a big black box - she was surprised how he couldn’t find it, but she didn’t ask. _

_ “Let’s go back out, I will show you,” he smiled and they exited his office. They sat on one of the sofas and she looked at him expectantly. _

_ “Not many people know this, but I am a certified tattoo artist,” he grinned at her and showed her the contents of the box - he had bottles of ink there, needles and some other stuff she guessed was needed to make tattoos. _

_ “You are a what now?” she asked.  _

_ “It was Sweet Pea’s birthday gift for me - we went to New York for a week, we stayed in the sketchiest AirBnB you could possibly imagine - we took sleeping shifts because we were afraid that somebody would come in and rob or kill us. We attended a course with some professionals who taught us all the correct techniques and health regulations and all of that stuff. I should have the certificate in the office somewhere if you don’t believe me, but I am telling you this because I want you to know you are in good hands - that’s if you want to do it. I have done many tattoos already, I can show you pictures of them and everything.” _

_ “Okay, let’s do it,” Betty smiled. _

_ “Just like that?” Jughead asked with a surprise in his voice. _

_ “Just like that,” she answered, “I trust you.”  _

_ She really did and she wanted to do it. This was her chance to get her first tattoo, to start writing down the story of her life. She couldn’t imagine a better time for it than right now with Jughead. _

_ “I will get a lamp from my office because the lighting here is crap and I need to see, so just think about what you want, alright?” he asked and disappeared into his office.  _

_ She didn’t have to think - she knew exactly what she wanted as her first tattoo.  _

_ He returned a few minutes later. “Made up your mind?”  _

_ “Didn’t even had to think about it,” she answered, which made him smile. _

_ “Where do you want it?” Jughead asked while setting up the lamp. _

_ “On the ribs, just next to the breast,” she said motioning with her hand where. _

_ “You know that the closer to the bones I tattoo, the more it will hurt, right? Don’t you want it somewhere where it won’t be so painful?” concern coated his voice. _

_ “Do you doubt me Jones? Remember, I wanted to do this since I was twelve. I have done my research.” _

_ “Alright, babydoll,” he said, “just don’t say I didn’t warn you. You have seen the tattoo on my ribs - it was actually the first one Sweet Pea had done after getting the certificate - and it hurt like hell.” _

_ “One day, I will have you explain every single of your tattoos to me, you know that, right?”  _

_ She had never really asked him about them, mostly because usually she couldn’t think straight when he took his shirt off - she just lost her words every time she looked at his nicely defined body. _

_ “I am counting on it,” Jughead smirked, “maybe I will let you add something to them.”  _

_ Betty’s head shot up when she heard that. _

_ “You would?” she asked and he nodded, “Seriously? What if I suck at it?” _

_ “If it is too bad, I can still get it covered by something else,” he shrugged, “but I am pretty sure that I wouldn’t need to. I don’t mind if the tattoos aren’t perfect - I think it’s important for the memory they remind you of to be perfect.”  _

_ She smiled at that; he liked making memories with her so much that he would ink one to his skin forever. _

_ “Can I do it?” she asked quickly.  _

_ “I already said you could.” _

_ “But I mean now. Like, after you finish with me, can I tattoo you?” she asked, her voiced laced with excitement.  _

_ “Sure,” he smiled softly, “but now I need you to get rid of the shirt and bra as well.” _

  
  
  


_ After an hour or two, Jughead was finished with his work. There was a small sunflower with a few leaves on Betty’s ribcage. _

_ “By the way, why a sunflower?” he asked, as he was finishing up. _

_ “It’s my favourite flower,” Betty offered, but she knew she needed to give him more than that, “it just radiates with positivity, don’t you think? It always turns to face the sun and let the shadow fall behind - focusing on accepting the light instead of the negative things. I aspire to be like one.” _

_ “You are,” Jughead smiled softly at her. She let him bandage up her tattoo so it could heal and then she pulled her shirt back on, deciding to omit the bra since the pressure would probably hurt. _

_ “You still up for tattooing me?” he asked and she nodded. She wanted to do it and she had already come up with an idea - she just needed his permission. _

_ “Do you know what you want to do? I can show you some designs if you haven’t thought of anything yet,” he offered nicely. _

_ “I have this one word in my mind,” Betty smiled, “will that be too hard?”  _

_ She knew that tattooing was hard - you needed steady hand and precision. Delicate lines of letters could be tough for somebody as inexperienced as her, but she still thought it would be easier than some intricate design. _

_ “I have seen your handwriting Betts, it will look perfect,” he encouraged her, “place?”  _

_ “You are really leaving this whole thing up to me, aren’t you?” Betty asked and tugged on his shirt. He got rid of it quickly and she let herself roam her eyes over the nicely defined muscles of his body. She could look at him forever and still not have enough. _

_ “Can I do it here?” she asked, brushing her fingers on top of his right peck.  _

_ At first, she wanted to go for the left one but she wasn’t sure if it wasn’t overstepping boundaries. He didn’t have anything there, the place was calling her to draw a tattoo there, but she couldn’t. Something about it being just above his heart scared her - as if the space was sacred, being protected for the love of his life. So Betty opted the for the second breast, knowing that it would be just as good there.  _

_ “Sure, let me just clean it real quick,” he said and grabbed bottle with the cleansing alcohol from his kit. He cleaned it quickly and passed her a pen from the box. _

_ “Write it out with this first, it’s much easier that way,” he suggested and she listened.  _

_ She made sure her script was perfect, that the letters were in a straight line and that they looked professional. Then she started tattooing.  _

_ It was mesmerising - watching the ink transfer to his skin, leaving a permanent mark. Her mark. _

_ It took her a solid hour to write 7 letters, but at the end, she was more than satisfied with the results.  _

  
  


Eternal

  
  


_ Because, no matter what happened at the end of the summer, that is what he would be to her. _

_ All of the ideas he had, all of the kindness he shared, all of the love he gave. _

_ Everything. _

_ Him. _

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always, put all of your feelings in the comment box below <3 thank you for your feedback on the last chapter, it made my heart melt; I love all of you
> 
> shout out to @Peyton_0727 for being an amazing human and beta <3
> 
> find me on tumblr: catthecoder


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _tw for that referenced domestic violence tag_

School had been absolute hell for Betty.

With exam weeks coming up and the amount of assignments they had due for every class, she was surprised she even had time to breathe. . And to top it all off, she had to start applying for universities, which took the remaining of her free time away. Being in the last year of school sucked, but she despite how stressed and overwhelmed she felt she kept her eyes set on the bigger picture - leaving Riverdale.

Unfortunately, the amount of homework and studying she had resulted in her not getting a chance to talk to Jughead. She thought she would catch him one day last week after school, but he barely even attended the classes lately. Over the course of two weeks, she saw him only three times, one of which was in school. She knew that both of them had crazy schedules, but it had never been this crazy before. Did he not want to see her? Was he was avoiding her on purpose? She hoped not, she hoped it was all just a coincidence.

However, she did manage to mend things with Veronica - she baked her favourite cookies and brought them to school only to find her raven-haired best friend waiting for her in the Blue and Gold office, with regret written all over her face. They talked everything out - like they always did. They were best friends after all, they could never stay mad at each other for long.

So Betty just tried going on with her life, but she knew she wouldn’t last long. The vicious cycle of school-study-sleep was driving her nuts - she needed an escape. 

She needed to do something, something different to keep herself from going insane. If she was completely honest with herself, she knew what she needed to do. She needed to speak with Jughead. She needed his presence, his opinions, his help. She felt like she was lost at sea, treading water to keep her head just above the water as she desperately looked around for a lifeline. 

Every night she went to bed hoping that she would see him the next day so that they could talk things out and maybe, just maybe that would ease the feeling that she was drowning.

But the day never seemed to come.

***

It was late at night when she woke up. 

She listened for a moment, thinking it was her parents arguing that brought her out of a dead sleep but the house was silent. She reached for her phone to check time when she noticed the message staring back at her. 

Her eyes immediately widened as realization dawned on her as to what woke her up. 

  
  


**J** : backdoor

  
  


She read it at least five times before it clicked in her brain -  _ her _ backdoor. 

Betty quickly got out of her bed, throwing one of her old hoodies over her head as she ran down the stairs as quietly as she could heading straight for the back door of the house that lead out to the garden. 

Jughead used that entrance few times during summer - enough times actually to know there was a spare key hidden under one of the flower pots. She was glad he didn’t use it - if her parents had woken up to find a Serpent walking around their house, things wouldn’t probably end well. Betty knew for a fact that her mother had a gun hidden in one of the drawers in the bedroom and that she wasn’t afraid to use it. 

She carefully opened the door to make sure the hinges didn’t creek - there was nothing that could have prepared Betty for what she saw there.

“Oh my god, Jug,” she whispered as she sunk down to her knees next to him. 

‘Horrible’ didn’t even begin to scratch the surface- Jughead looked like a truck ran over him. A few times. He was bleeding from several places on his face - torn lip, cheekbone, eyebrow. A black eye had already started forming under his right eye and of his body didn’t look much better. Even in the darkness, Betty noticed that both his shirt and jeans were stained from blood. 

At first, she thought that he had crashed his bike somewhere, but now she wasn’t so sure. It looked like somebody had beaten him up. Badly.

“Can you walk?” Betty asked him. He nodded, so she offered him a hand to help him get up and he gladly took it. A soft grunt escaping his mouth as he tried to stand.

“I know it will be hard, but I need you to be as quiet as possible,” Betty whispered. 

He didn’t make any more sounds.

When they got into her room, she thanked the gods her parents didn’t wake up. Leading him straight to the bathroom, she closed the door behind them. After he was settled on the edge of the tub, she shoved a pillow under her door before locking it so their voices would be silenced as much as possible. Returning to the bathroom, she started going through her cabinet to find all the stuff she needed to help him.

“I’m sorry,” he said, breathing heavily, “for coming here. I- I didn’t have anywhere else to go. I went to Wyrm but all the medical kits over there were empty and I needed help.” 

Betty leaned down and took another good look at him. This was no accident, someone clearly beat him up.

“Don’t apologise, alright?” she said, “I need you to take the jacket off. The shirt as well.” He silently obliged, but Betty could see the pain every movement caused him. The way his eyes shut tightly and lips squeezed together spoke louder than any words could.

“How bad is the pain?” Betty asked as she contemplated where to start.

“It probably hurts more than it looks,” he hissed when she tried touching him.

It definitely didn’t, to her it looked as bad as it probably hurt but she wasn’t going to argue with him about that right now. 

“I have some alcohol here, I’m going to start with the cuts on your face, alright? It might sting a little,” Betty warned him. She dipped a cotton ball into it and gently tapped over the cut on his cheek. He didn’t even flinch, probably used to not showing the pain, even though it must have hurt like hell.

“Shouldn’t I call an ambulance? You might have some internal injuries and a professional would certainly do a better job than I am doing,” Betty asked as she moved on to the next cut. 

“Please don’t,” he whispered. He might not have flinched when she was cleaning the cuts, but she could hear the pain seeping through his voice. Either he was in so much pain that he couldn’t hide it anymore or he wasn’t afraid to show her how much pain he was in. She idly hoped it was the latter. 

“Why?” Betty asked, as she stopped cleaning his wounds so she could look him in the eye. 

He looked away, ignoring her question.

She sighed in frustration. Why didn’t he want professional medical help?? He was putting his own life in risk, and for what?

“Jughead Jones, answer me now or I am calling that ambulance.” 

Just a quick glance at her was enough for him to understand that she wasn’t kidding. 

“I don’t want anybody to see me like this,” he admitted silently, “this powerless.”

“Why? Because you’re supposed to be this fearless leader everybody looks up to?” Betty chuckled, rolling her eyes slightly. 

“Yeah, that’s exactly why.” 

She looked him in the eyes again and when she found nothing but self-pity and self-hatred, her heart ached.

“Jug, stop it nobody expects you to be like that all the time.. The Serpents,  _ your people, _ they don’t follow you because they think you are never scared or because you are always strong. It’s because the trust you and you have proved over and over again that you can lead them. They know you are just like them - you fuck shit up, you aren’t perfect, you get scared. That’s why they are loyal to you - not because you are a fearless, strong leader but because you are their family and they know you have their back no matter what. So don’t think they would ever abandon you for showing your weaknesses. If anything, I think they would respect you even more.”

Jughead closed his eyes, not saying anything after Betty finished and he remained silent as she went back to taking care of his wounds. She wasn’t offended though, knowing that he was probably letting her would sink in. Not to mention, the tears that rolled out slowly from his shut eyes said more than any words could.

  
  


***

  
  


_ “What are we doing here, Juggie?” Betty asked him as they pulled over on an abandoned parking lot. _

_ “I am fulfilling my promise to you,” He smiled and got off the bike. “I am going to teach you how to ride this thing.”  _

_ “For real? I thought you forgot about that!” she quickly pulled him into for a hug and pressed a kiss onto his lips. _

_ “Why would you think that, babydoll?” he asked her, stroking her cheek gently. _

_ “I don’t know, I only mentioned it once,” she shrugged.  _

_ She didn’t think of it much when she said it, although she remembered him promising her that he would show her how ride a motorcycle one day. But that was the first time they had met, which seemed to be so long ago even though only a few weeks had passed. _

_ “I listen to you when you talk, Betts,” he smiled which somehow, made her smile even more.  _

_ He genuinely always listened to what she had to say - no matter how stupid she thought her ideas were, how irrational she was being. No matter how much she dreamed out loud, he was always there, listening, remembering.  _

_ “I wish all boys were like you,” she whispered. He just shrugged and turned his attention to his bike. _

_ “Okay, so I’ll explain the basics to you quickly,” he said.  _

_ Betty sat comfortably on the bike and started listening. _

_ “So this is clutch, you pull it and then shift gears with your left feet over here. You accelerate with this throttle and brake with the right lever or if you need to, with the one on the side, which is back brake.”  _

_ He carefully showed her each of the levers to make sure she knew exactly which controlled what. She nodded at everything, grazing her fingers over the individual parts of the bike as she attempted to memorize what he was saying. _

_ “Try pulling on the clutch few times, to get the feel of it. You need to do it smoothly, otherwise you risk being thrown down from the bike,” He said completing the action to show her, then. Betty repeated the movement a few times. _

_ “That’s good. When you’ll want to shift gears, you will pull on the clutch which will basically disconnect the rear wheel. Then to keep the bike from jerking you’ll have to slow down a bit, just lightly. You’ll shift gears with your left foot and then you’ll have to accelerate again as you release the clutch,” he explained carefully.  _

_ She nodded, storing everything into her memory. _

_ “Now, we’ll start the bike,” he said. _

_ “Wait, that’s it?” Betty asked. She expected it to be much more complicated than that. _

_ “Yeah you ready to try and ride this thing?”  _

_ She got off the bike and watched him carefully as he went through the motions with her one more time. He looked really hot on the bike - he was wearing a plain white shirt that hugged his body tightly. She was wearing his jacket - something he insisted on always when they rode his bike. He said it was for safety reasons, but part of her knew he just thought she looked hot in the leather. He usually brought another one for himself, but not today - which resulted into him now sitting on the bike in just a shirt and looking like pure sin. Her mouth watered as she suddenly found it hard to focus. _

_ “Stop undressing me with your eyes and focus, babydoll,” he laughed, seeing right through her. _

_ “I can’t help myself when you look like that,” she said which made him laugh even more. _

_ “Well, maybe I’ll make all your dreams come true later,” he winked and she had to use all of the power insider her to not let her knees give up on her. _

_ “Promise?” she breathed out, lust lacing her voice. _

_ “Fuck,” he groaned. She saw how hard it was for him not to go after her right there, in that moment. He craved her as much as she craved him. _

_ “Okay, so starting up the bike,” he said, voice sounding strangled. She chuckled a bit, but decided to push the thoughts of his perfect body to the back of her mind.  _

_ For now. _

_ “You pull on the clutch and then flip the kill switch here. Then, you’ll need to kickstart the engine with your right foot,” he did as he said and the engine immediately started purring, “now you just turn the keys in ignition and put the bike into neutral. After that you can let go of the clutch and press the start button.”  _

_ Betty just watched the bike come alive under his hands - it was mesmerising. _

_ “Now, you try it,” he said and turned everything off. He got off the back of the bike and allowed her to get on. _

_ “Do you remember everything or should I walk you through it?” he asked as she sat down. _

_ “I can try,” she offered and put her hands on the right spots. He nodded, letting her take the lead. _

_ “I’ll pull the clutch first,” she started, figuring if she said everything aloud, she would remember it better and he could correct her if she was wrong. She pulled on the lever. _

_ “Now kick start the engine,” she said and tried copying the movement he did with his foot. It didn’t do anything. _

_ “The lever sometimes gets stuck,” Jughead said and moved closer to her, “you might need to stand on it with your whole weight. Or even jump on it to make sure you have enough force to push it down.” She tried shifting her weight so it would push the lever down, but it didn’t work. So she lifted her foot and then push on it with more force. She had to try four times before the engine finally purred. _

_ “It certainly took me longer to learn how to kick start it than it took you,” he complimented her, “you are good.” _

_ “Thanks,” she said with a small smile, “now the ignition, right?” Jughead nodded and she turned the key. _

_ “Now I need to shift to neutral and let go of the clutch,” she said as she did those things. It came to her naturally - as if it was something she was born to do. _

_ “And the start button,” she said and pressed it quickly.  _

_ “You’re ready to go,” he smiled, “okay, now you will walk with it. Just shift into the first gear and hold onto the clutch. Leave your feet on the ground and slowly start letting go, until you feel the bike moving. You need to be able to balance yourself, so you’ll have to walk while it’s moving this slowly.”  _

_ Betty nodded, shifted the gears and let the bike slowly move. The first few steps were hard - she felt as if the bike was going to tip over with her every movement. But she persevered, moving leg after leg. After few meters she finally got the hang of it, she didn’t feel like she needed to keep the bike steady, instead she felt as if the bike was steading her. _

_ “This is easier than I thought it was going to be,” Betty said after a while. _

_ “Okay, so get your feet off the ground and add a little speed,” he said and she did.  _

_ It felt freeing, riding the bike on her own. Although she went slow, she still felt the freedom pulsing in her veins. _

_ “Now stop,” he shouted after her as she was getting quite far away. She stopped and he jogged to get to her. _

_ “You are a natural,” he smiled, “you need just a little practice and you’ll be perfect. But looking at how hot you look, I need to do this first.”  _

_ He quickly turned the bike off and took her mouth in a passionate kiss.  _

_ A kiss that didn’t stop for a long time. _

  
  


_ *** _

  
  


“Are you going to tell me what happened?” Betty asked after she finished cleaning him up. She put bandage over his wrist which was swelling a bit, but he still refused to go and see a doctor. So she gave him some painkillers to ease the pain and brought a bag of frozen peas from the freezer to ease up the swelling instead. 

She didn’t ask him while she was taking care of him, mainly because she saw how much energy it took for him not to break down from the pain and partly because she expected him to start talking on his own. It was, after all, him who came to her door at 2 am completely beaten up, asking for help.

“I got beaten up,” he offered slowly. He paused after that as if he finished.

“You know that’s not enough right? You came here because you trust me and I need you to trust me with this as well,” Betty said. 

She just wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer but after a few moments of silence she was just about ready to give up on him. She took care of him and bandaged him up, there’d be nothing on her conscience if she kicked him out right now.

“Jug-”

“I applied for university,” he blurted out cutting her off, “I just wanted to try, I might not even go if I get accepted. I would probably just stay here, with Serpents, continuing this  _ life _ that I have.” 

His words made her shudder- that’s not what he wanted, that’s not the life he was supposed to have. He would get into one of the universities, he would succeed- she was sure of it and now that she knew that he had applied she wasn’t going to let him throw the opportunity away. He said it himself, that it was his dream. To escape this town, this life. To go to university and make something of himself.

“Why would you say that? You want to go,” she asked, looking confused.

“But I can’t,” his voice trembled, “I don’t know what I was thinking, I can’t go. I will be stuck here  _ forever _ .” His voice broke with that last word. He opened his mouth again as if he wanted to continue, but no sound came out.

“Come here,” Betty said, gently wrapping her arms around him.

She soothed his back, slowly, like he did to her many times when she fell apart. She let him take a break, breathe, organise his thoughts. What a mess his mind must have been. She hated seeing him this broken.

“And you know what is the funniest thing? I thought that he had changed. That we were finally building some sort of relationship and then he does this shit. He’s just unbelievable,” Jughead scoffed. 

There wasn’t just a sadness in his voice anymore - there was anger as well. He was pissed, he was mad and there was only one person who could make him this riled up.

“Wait, did your father do this?” Betty blurted before thinking about it twice. 

“ _ That’s the Northside, putting all those crazy ideas into your head, boy! Don’t listen to them, you don’t belong there! Your place is here with me, among the Serpents! No Northside, no New York, _ ” Jughead said with mocking voice, but Betty could sense the fear and anger in him. The pain.

“Juggie,” Betty sobbed silently. 

He took her into his arms as soon as the first sob reached his ears, comforting her even thought it was him who needed it more.

“Don’t cry, babydoll. I’m not worth it,” he whispered into her hair. 

Betty’s head shot up immediately.

“Don’t you ever say that again,” she looked him directly into his eyes to make her point clear, “don’t you dare think you are not worth it. You are the most precious human being I know, you deserve the world. Your father might be a colossal dick but that doesn’t belittle your worth.” 

She didn’t understand how he couldn’t see it - he was everything. He was kindest person she had ever met, he was honest to the bone, he wasn’t afraid to be vulnerable (at least with her). He always made sure everybody was taken care of before even thinking about himself. He had a smile that could light up the room and the way his eyes shined made her forget about everything else in the world. He was made of stardust, an angel walking amongst humans. 

Betty couldn’t find words to describe his worth - how do you explain to someone that they are just  _ more _ ?? More than enough, more than anything, more than everything there is. 

She couldn’t find the words, so instead of saying she cupped his face and kissed him. 

Passionately, desperately, lovingly. She poured everything into the kiss - all of her feelings, all of her memories. All of her love.

When their lips separated, she felt breathless, but somehow air just wasn’t enough. She realised, she wasn’t in fact breathless - that she was in fact just missing the feeling of his lips pressed against hers. 

She felt her body relax and for the first time since they officially ended things she felt like she was floating instead of drowning.

“I missed you,” was all that left his mouth before he kissed her again. He kissed her with the same passion as she did just seconds before, with the same despair, with the same love. Like he too could only feel at peace when their lips were pressed firmly together, their souls connected as one.

Betty felt like she was on the edge of a precipice, she knew they should probably talk and talk about things. The only problem was, she didn’t want to stop.

Standing up, she took his hand and led him back into her bedroom and his lips found hers once more. The coherent thought she had before throwing all caution to the wind was how much she missed the feeling of his hands on her skin. 

***

“Are you sure you have somewhere to go?” Betty asked him as they walked to his bike. It was parked at his usual spot and she wondered how he managed to ride it in the state he had been in. 

It was just before the dawn and he had to leave - she couldn’t risk her mother finding him in her bed. And he needed to rest, to allow his body to heal.

“Yeah, one of the rooms in Wyrm is free, I’ll just crash in there,” he said with a small smile. 

“Will you be safe there?” she asked him.  _ Won’t your father find you there? _ was what she wanted to ask, but she couldn’t bring herself to mention him. 

“Yes,” he said simply.

“We still need to talk. Not just about that, but also about this,” she said, hand motioning between the two of them.

“Come see me after school, alright?” he said, “I have to go or I’ll fall asleep half way.” 

She wrapped her arms around him tightly. Even though she knew they would see each other soon, her heart still ached at the thought of letting him go. He planted few kisses onto her head, which calmed her down enough that she loosened her grip on him.

“I will see you later babydoll,” he winked and put on his helmet. 

_ God, he looked so hot on that bike. _

***

The school day went by painfully slow. 

She was too tired for starters - she slept only for three hours which wasn’t enough by far and her mind kept wandering off to Jughead all the time. She thought back on how horrible he looked when he arrived, how scared he was and how broken he seemed. Her thoughts also wandered to after she patched him up and how good he looked. It had been awhile since she last saw him shirtless. She thought he looked perfect back then but somehow, he looked even better now. 

_ Absence makes the heart grow fonder, _ she mused.

But there was one thing in particular she couldn’t get out of her mind now. She didn’t think much of it last night but when she took his shirt off, she noticed something that wasn’t there before.On the top of his left breast, where there used to be an empty space,was a small sunflower tattoo. The memory of her, engraved into his skin forever.

“So, Pop’s?” Veronica’s voice was what brought Betty out from her thoughts. She hadn’t even realised that they already finished the school and were standing outside the building, deciding on what to do.

“Hm, what?” she asked, not being able to process the question on the first try.

“What’s up with you today? You look like you haven’t slept whole night,” Archie asked her, “that’s not like you.” 

“Yeah, I didn’t sleep well,” Betty shrugged, “I think I will have to pass on Pop’s today, sorry V.” Betty turned to look at Kevin, who was scanning her as suspiciously as her two friends. “Can you take me home please, Kev?”

He nodded, shooting an apologetic look towards Veronica and Archie. They walked towards Kevin’s car in silence.

“Okay, so what’s going on?” Kevin asked once they got in, “Archie could have dropped you off easily, he wouldn’t say no if you asked him. You know I don’t pass your house on the way from school.” He always saw right through her.

“I need you to drop me off to Wyrm,” Betty said and Kevin squealed.

“You finally talked to him?” he asked, excitement leaking through his voice.

“A bit yeah,” Betty admitted, “but we have more to talk about.”

“Are you two back together?” he asked, not even trying to mask his excitement anymore.

“I don’t know, Kev. It’s complicated,” Betty sighed. 

“Is it? You are in love with each other, what is so complicated about that?” 

If only it were that simple. “Sometimes, just love isn’t enough,” Betty sighed. 

Kevin stopped his car in Wyrm’s parking lot. It was mostly empty, apart from few motorcycles.

“Should I come in with you?” Kevin asked. He looked concerned - it was different going there during night to a party and now. Now the bar would be filled with nobody else but Serpents and that thought alone probably scared him a little.

“No, Jughead is expecting me,” Betty said. He texted her earlier that he would be in his office, so she should let herself in.

“Thanks for driving me,” Betty smiled at him, “and for being here for me.”

“No problem,” Kevin answered. She exited the car and headed for the Wyrm, hoping she could get in without a problem. 

She entered the bar to find out that there weren’t many Serpents there. She recognised Joaquin behind the bar cleaning some glasses and she saw some Serpents hanging out in one of the booths. This was good, she could sneak past them.

She was about to open the door that lead to the staircase that would take her to Jug’s office, when she heard a voice behind her.

“Where do you think you are going, young lady?” Betty’s heart dropped. So much for going unnoticed. 

“I, uhm,” she started, but couldn’t think of a good reason as of why she was trying to go into the door that clearly stated ‘entrance forbidden’.

“What is a pretty little Northsider like you doing here?” Another guy asked her and she pressed her back to the door. 

“Maybe she’s lost,” the first one said, “are you lost, baby girl?” A cold shiver run through her back.

“Maybe we should call Jones to show her who we are,” a third guy said, “Joaquin, call the boss that we have a lost Northsider snooping around.” 

The three men chuckled and she immediately relaxed at the mere mention of Jughead’s name. She had to bite back her own laugh at the thought of they thought he would do to her.

“Yeah, you should definitely call him,” Betty said smugly, “I’m sure he will be glad to stop doing whatever he’s up to come and deal with me.” She gave them her sweetest smile. 

She wanted to remark something about them being useless, when the door behind her opened and she felt herself falling forward before Jughead’s arm caught her around her waist.

She straightened up and stepped away from his embrace, taking a quick glance at him - he looked much better than he had earlier that morning. He smiled back at her and she felt her heart stutter in her chest. If kept looking at her that way, she was definitely going to need to be caught by him again.

“What’s the problem?” Jughead asked, turning his attention to his men.

“She tried sneaking in,” one of his men answered. Jughead looked at her, with a glint in his eyes and smirk on his lips.

“Sneaking around?” 

Betty swallowed, the tone in voice making her weak. “Yes.” 

“You see, I can’t have a Northsider sneaking around,  _ babydoll _ ,” he winked at her as he grabbed her hip, “maybe I should show you what happens to people who do that.” She felt the heat from his hand burning on her hip and warmth of his breath tingling on her neck.

“Yeah, you definitely should,” she managed to get out of herself with a strangled voice. She missed him so badly she could barely keep herself together.

“Thanks for calling me, I’m going to take care of her,” Jughead said to Serpents and pulled her inside the door. As soon as he shut it behind them, she found herself pressed against it, with Jughead’s mouth devouring hers.

“They are going to fuck, right?” she heard one of the Serpents ask from the other side. She felt him smile against her lips, between the kisses. 

“Oh, we so are,” she whispered breathily.

“My office. Now,” he whispered and pulled her up the stairs. 

She guessed talking would have to wait a bit more.  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for all of the comments on the last chapter, I love you all so much <3 as always, leave your thoughts and feelings in the comment box below
> 
> kudos to Peyton for working wonders with this chapter <3 
> 
> find me on tumblr: catthecoder


	8. Chapter 8

“You seem to be feeling much better,” Betty said smirking at him as she put her shirt back on. 

Considering he literally had her slammed against the wall for the entire time of their tryst, making it look as if he hadn’t gotten beat up the night before.

“I would survive all the pain for you, babe,” he said, returning her smirk with his own. 

“We should really talk now,” she sunk into one of the comfortable armchairs in the office as he leaned against his desk.

“Yeah, we probably should,” he sighed. 

He rubbed the back of his neck which he always did when he was thinking. Or when he was nervous. Betty presumed that this time, it was both.

“Look I’m just going to be honest here,” he said, pulling his beanie off and running his hand through his hair. “I can’t, lose you again.” Despair seeped through his voice to the point where it made Betty ache. Ache to soothe him, ache to love him. 

She stood, walking over to him. “You won’t.” 

She took his hand into hers and running her thumb over his knuckles, waiting for her words to sink in. She wasn’t going to go through that again, that pain and despair and she as hell wasn’t going to let  _ him _ go through it either.

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” he chuckled sadly. 

Betty could see it all over his face - he didn’t trust her. He didn’t believe her. He thought that he would lose her again and that he was helpless to do anything about it.

She sighed, exasperated. “Stop it. I will do anything in my power to keep that promise. This isn’t just about you. I can’t lose you again either.”

“So, what are we going to do?” he asked. 

What were they going to do? She knew they couldn’t just come out with their relationship to everybody, that would do them no good. And they already learned their lesson with keeping the relationship a secret. Their crazy schedules made it nearly impossible to sneak around.

“I don’t know Juggie,” she shook her head. 

Placing her hands gently on his cheeks, she looked deep into his eyes. their piercing blue color taking her breath away. There was always too much pain behind them, too much for such an eternal soul. 

“I just know that I am not giving up on you or us ever again,” she whispered, “you’re my air, my blood. I can’t breathe, I can’t live without you. So, I don’t care what I have to give up to make time for you - I will. I’ll do anything.” 

Betty let out a deep breath, quickly following it by a short inhale. She felt screaming in her head starting again - the voices telling her that it was impossible. That she couldn’t be with him, that there was no way for them to be together. She shut her eyes tightly, trying to push those thoughts out of her mind. 

But it wasn’t helping, the shut eyelids blocking her from seeing Jughead were just making everything worse, but she couldn’t open them, not anymore. Fear had taken over, panic spreading through every inch of her body, tingling in her, hurting her. Making it hard to keep her posture straight, making her limbs tremble and head spin. She tried taking another breath when she realised she forgot how to breathe, but there was no air left, nothing to take in. She felt her lungs burning, suffocating pain crawling from her chest into the rest of her body. 

Maybe, she would pass out. Maybe that would stop it, stop all of it from happening. Stop the hurt, stop the pain. Maybe then she could breathe again, maybe she could be with him again. Maybe-

“Betts, I love you.”

The voice sounded as if it was made of velvet - it soothed her ears, it soothed her mind. The softness of his words wrapped around her like a safety blanket, wrapping her up securely. Slowly, she was able to breath again and she realized - maybe it was his scent that calmed her. The smell of tobacco, leather and hot summer days filling her nostrils. Or maybe, it was his hands, which wrapped lovingly around her body. Her mind was still foggy, so she wasn’t sure about anything that moment -  _ only him. _ Only that he was there, holding her tightly. Loving her deeply.

Slowly, she opened her eyes.The amount of light surprised her, she remembered the office being much darker. And maybe it still was and the light wasn’t coming from a window or lamp. 

Maybe he was that light. 

Maybe his love was that light.

“You okay?” he asked cautiously. She was sure that he realised what had just happened. He had witnessed her having a panic attack before, so he recognized all of the symptoms effortlessly.

“Yeah,” she nodded. 

She let her head sink onto his shoulder, breathing in his scent,letting it continue to calm her down. 

It was the feeling of safety, she decided,  _ a home. _

“I am glad,” he smiled softly at her, placing his hand onto her cheek, “because I love you babydoll and I will not let anything happen to you.” 

Betty felt as if thousands of butterflies had suddenly erupted in her belly. It tingled, it made her stomach flip - but all in a good way. In the best way possible. Hearing those words, hearing him say his feelings out loud made her the happiest she had ever been. She couldn’t stop her smile from spreading widely across her face, she couldn’t stop herself from planting a deep kiss on his mouth. She couldn’t make the spark of happiness disappear from her eyes - she didn’t want to. She never wanted this feeling to stop, because it fulfilled her like no other feeling ever did. She thought that sitting on the back of Jughead’s motorcycle made her feel as if she was flying high above the ground, but that was nothing compared to hearing those three words. 

“I-“ Betty started, looking for words to describe what she was feeling, but she couldn’t find any. 

She might have prided herself in being a good writer, a great one even, but now she couldn’t find any words to express what was on her mind. But maybe she didn’t need to do that. Because just one look into Jughead’s eyes was enough to for her to understand that she didn’t need to say anything more.

“I love you,” she breathed out. 

When Jughead’s smile spread across his face, Betty knew that she would remember this moment until the end of her life. That she would fall asleep and see his eyes twinkling in the dark room, see his lips creating the most perfect curve, see true happiness in human form.

“I love you so much. I cannot even think straight, I love you, I love you, I love you,” she started blurting out, not being able to stop herself. She kept it in for so long and now that it was out, she couldn’t bring herself to stop saying it.

Jughead laughed light-heartedly, pulling her in for a deep kiss, as if that was the only way to shut her up. And it worked, she stopped talking. But her lips continued moving - brushing against his, saying those three little words with every movement.

When they separated, they were both breathless - not only from lack of air but also from each other. They were breathless from finally feeling the love they had denied for so long.

“We still haven’t figured out what we are going to do,” Jughead whispered against her lips. 

She didn’t want to think about it, not now. Not ever. 

“Let’s just screw everything,” she whispered back, “I am done with this city, I am done with hiding and pretending. I love you and I don’t care who knows as long as I get to be with you.” 

It might not have been their best option, but it was the only one she was willing to accept. She couldn’t pretend not to know him anymore, she couldn’t keep stealing glances from across the room. She wanted to be with him - plain and simple. No hiding, no pretending. 

“Betts,” he sighed sadly, “there’s nothing I would love more but we can’t.” His voice broke as she looked him into the eyes. Where there was happiness before, there was nothing but sadness now.

“Your father?” she asked and he just nodded, hugging her tightly.

“I am sorry babydoll, but he can’t learn about you. I won’t allow that,” he shook his head, “I can’t put you into harm’s way.” 

She looked at him confused, but it didn’t take long to click in her mind - he didn’t care if his father beat him up. He couldn’t care less. He knew he would heal and move on. But the thought of his father hurting her haunted him. She could tell it scared the shit out of him, so she just nodded in understanding.

“I am going to get to the university,” he whispered after a while, “I will do everything to get in. I am going to get an apartment in New York and I am going to start again. I will do it.” He cupped her face in his palms, staring deeply through her eyes, directly into her soul. 

“I want you to come with me.”

“Really?” Betty asked with a hope coating her voice.

“Really,” he nodded, “if it weren’t for you, I would probably end up like my dad - a drunk burnout. But you, Elizabeth Cooper, you made me a better man. I want to be with you, of course, if you’ll have me.” He smiled shyly at her, which made a little laugh escape her mouth.

“Of course I’ll have you,” she said, “I would love nothing more than to move away from this hellhole of town with you.” They both smiled, at the thought of their future together.

  
  


***

  
  


_ “I didn’t think it was even possible for it to get this hot,” Betty mumbled. The temperature in Riverdale was unbearable - one could barely breathe on the hot streets. Everyone was either inside or hidden somewhere in the shade - no one dared to step into the light of the sun in fear of getting burnt alive. _

_ “It’s still not as hot as you, babydoll,” Jughead chuckled which earned him a hit to his shoulder from Betty.  _

_ “When did you become so cheesy?” she rolled her eyes at him. He was laying shirtless in the shade of one of the trees by Sweetwater river. He said that it was just because of the temperature, but when he flexed his muscles, Betty knew that there was a second reason. He was teasing her. _

_ “I don’t know, the sun has probably melted my brain,” he shrugged.  _

_ They decided to spend this hot day by Sweetwater river, but drove all the way up the stream, far enough from Riverdale to not be disturbed by others who also sought the coolness of the river. They found a sweet little spot - there was just enough trees to offer them a decent shade and there was easy access to water, to allow them to take a swim if they felt up to it. _

_ “Tell me about your tattoos,” Betty suddenly said. She had been staring at his naked chest for too long now - all of the tattoos burning into her memories. Stories, all of them were stories, begging to be told. Begging to be heard by her. _

_ “Now?” he asked. He propped himself against his elbows to get better view at her, so she just nodded. _

_ “Alright,” he smiled, “come closer.” She sat down next to him, grazing her fingers quickly over his naked chest. _

_ “Chronological order is alright?” he asked and she nodded once again, eager to hear all of his stories. _

_ “You might have guessed this, but my first tattoo was the Serpent tattoo. I am not sure if I would have gotten a tattoo ever if it weren’t for that one,” he brushed his finger against the tattoo on his arm, “Toni drew it the night after initiation. She is a crappy tattoo artist, let me tell you that. If you look closely, you can see all of the rigged black lines and she went over them with the green too many times to count. But I still love it, it symbolises everything Serpents are - sometimes a little rough and broken, but holding together forever. Like a family.”  _

_ Betty loved hearing stories about Serpents from him - the way his eyes twinkled with happiness, often with pride. They were more of a family to him than his father probably ever was, or for that matter, than his mother ever was. She was just happy for him, to have people like that, supporting him. _

_ “The second one I got was because I lost a bet with Joaquin. That guy, he’s something else, let me tell you. I hated him when we first met - he always disagreed with me, challenged my ideas and was just generally getting on my nerves. I felt a need to always prove him wrong and to be honest, I failed more times than I succeeded. One night we were planning a break-in to Ghoulies’ Jingle-jangle lab. To sum things up, we had a very different opinions on what the lab was going to look like, what their security was going to be like and everything. And the thing was, I wasn’t in charge back then so I couldn’t just tell him to fuck off. But neither could he, because my father was still in charge, although he was too drunk most of the time to care about doing any work. So that put me kind of in charge because I was his son, but it also put Joaquin in charge as he was my father’s right hand. Everybody was pissed at us, so they made us agree to their conditions, which were basically that whoever is right would be given the leader title and could make sure - in any way they found suitable - that everybody knew the other person was wrong,” Jughead chuckled.  _

_ He moved his fingers towards a tattoo on his collarbone, the one that peaked out of all of his t-shirts. It said only one word -  _ wrong _. _

_ “You can take a guess on who was right,” he laughed. _

_ “Wait, you lost? Then how come you are the leader and not Joaquin?” Betty asked. _

_ “We talked after that break-in, like properly talked for the first time. He said that he didn’t want to be a leader - he didn’t think he had it in him, he didn’t think he was good enough for the Serpents to put their trust into him. But he still cared, and he wouldn’t let anything happen to them, that’s why he always challenged my ideas. Because I was new to all of that, I had no idea what I was doing. Joaquin had been in the gang for a few years already - he knew every inch of it inside out. I realised that he wasn’t just arguing with me, he was in fact teaching me. He always asked about my reasoning, about what could be improved if we didn’t do what I proposed. He wasn’t pretending to be always right like I was - he was just trying to help. So I did the least I could do to thank him - I asked him to be my right-hand. To help me improve and learn how to lead. Let me tell you, Sweet Pea was pissed as hell when he learnt that I asked Joaquin - but I haven’t regretted the decision once. He is a great guy - rational, cold-headed and loyal to a bone.”  _

_ Betty smiled at that. Sometimes, a friendship could be found in the most unexpected of places. _

_ “I have already told you the story of how this one came to be,” he motioned towards his ribcage. _

_ “Yeah, Sweet Pea’s work,” Betty nodded, “I still cannot believe that you have an official certificate for that.” _

_ “What’s so unbelievable about it?”  _

_ “It’s just… You’re in a gang, I thought nobody thought about things like that.”  _

_ “Well, they didn’t before and you can see how that ended,” he laughed, “I love Toni but she just can’t tattoo properly. It’s much better now with me and Sweet Pea.” _

_ “Yeah, you are pretty good,” Betty said, “and he is as well.” She traced the tattoo on his ribcage gently. _

_ “Yeah,” he nodded. Then he fell silent for a while, as if he was looking for right words to describe the next tattoo. _

_ “I have a pen with notebook over here,” Jughead continued, showing Betty his left wrist, “I wasn’t in the best place when I drew that one, to be honest. My father’s drinking was at its worst, there was a lot of pressure from school, Serpents and I just felt myself cracking a bit. I thought some things Betts - I don’t even want to say it aloud. I- I am just glad that I reached for a tattoo needle that night and not for something else.”  _

_ Jughead took a deep breath, shutting his eyes briefly. Betty immediately reached to his cheek, slowly rubbing her thumb against his soft skin, in an attempt to soothe him back to calmness. _

_ “I drew it because honestly, it was the first design that came to my mind - it reminded me of a better, nicer future.”  _

_ He opened his eyes again, the sadness already pushed far away. _

_ “I am sorry you had to go through that,” Betty whispered softly. _

_ “I am wiser because of it,” he smiled and motioned towards his other wrist, where that word was inked into his skin. _

_ “I asked Sweet Pea for that one a year after that night. I have grown so much during that year and I wanted to mark my progress somehow, to remind myself how far I have come. That if I ever find myself in a situation like that again, that I should just hold on. It will make me wiser at the end.” _

_ “How can you be so…” Betty asked, lost for words. He spoke with such a wisdom in his words, with carefully thought through ideas.  _

_ “Wise?” he chuckled and wiggled his wrist in front of her eyes, which made her chuckle as well. _

_ “I have this  _ eternal _ wisdom, you know,” he smiled, brushing fingers over the tattoo on his left peck. _

_ “Nice one,” Betty chuckled. _

_ “Yeah, this really pretty girl wrote it for me,” he stuck out his tongue at her, which made her giggle more. _

_ “What about this one?” Betty asked, touching a constellation on his left hip, “is that Ursa Major?” _

_ “That one is for my sister,” he smiled gently, “our mother decided to leave Riverdale when I was nine and she took my sister with her. We didn’t get on well most of the time - JB and me - she was an annoying younger sister after all. The only thing we really bonded over was story-telling. We didn’t own a TV back then and we didn’t have money to buy books or anything like that. So at night, I took her out, to look at the stars. We made up so many stories about the constellations we saw on the sky. This one, Ursa Major, was always her favourite. In each one of her stories, the bear was the mighty hero who saved everyone.”  _

_ Betty couldn’t stop herself from smiling - he was genuinely the purest person she had ever met. The way how he spoke lovingly about his sister made her melt. He had never gotten enough love from either of his parents - his father being abusive drunk and his mother being absent - but somehow, he still had his heart full of compassion and love for his sister. _

_ “And that’s it,” he smiled, “now you know all of my stories, Betty Cooper.”  _

_ “Not even close,” Betty shook her head.  _

_ She knew there was still so much more to him, so many untold stories begging to be heard. He may have worn many of them on his skin, but so many more were kept hidden from the plain sight, buried deeply within him, pulsing through his veins. And she wanted to know all of them; she wanted to understand how one person could be this perfect; this eternal. _

  
  


_ *** _

  
  


“I want to take you out,” Jughead said shyly as Betty got off his motorcycle, “like for a proper date.”

“Are you blushing right now?” Betty asked him as she noticed the pink blush appearing over his cheeks.

“Stop it,” he chuckled. 

“Alright, sorry,” she smiled, “of course you can take me out Juggie.” A wide grin spread all over his face, happiness sparkling in his eyes. 

“Are you free tomorrow?” The excitement seeped through his voice. He sounded like a kid who got a puppy for Christmas, like a kid whose all dreams just came true.

“For you?” Betty answered, “always.” She wasn’t going to let any opportunity to be with him slip through her fingers; not anymore. He was her air, her blood, she needed him. She craved his presence, she couldn’t function without it.

“Does seven work for you? Or should I come later?” he chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“Hey, stop stressing,” she said, gently placing her arms around his waist, “it’s not the first time we are going out together.” 

It was fascinating to see him this stressed out about a simple date - they have spent so many days together, talking, sleeping, kissing that she was sure there was nothing for him to worry about. 

“I know,” he sighed, burying his face into her neck, “I just want to give you the perfect first date you deserve.”

“Are you suggesting that our first date wasn’t perfect?” Betty asked him with a raised eyebrow.

“No, I am just saying that it wasn’t a date, babydoll,” he smirked, pressing a small kiss to her nose.

“Whatever you say.”

Betty leaned in to kiss him when her phone started ringing. She quickly took it out of her pocket to see who was disturbing her now.

_ Kevin. _

“Go on, pick it up,” Jughead smiled, “the kissing will have to wait for our first date.” He winked at her and Betty had to control herself not to jump at him right there.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she smiled at him and picked up the call. 

“Hey Kev-”

“If you hadn’t picked up, I would be on my way to Wyrm right now to see if you are okay. You can’t not answer my texts just like that for hours!” he shouted at her from the other side of the line. 

She heard Jughead chuckle as he was strapping in his helmet - apparently even he could hear Kevin’s voice. 

“I am sorry, I haven’t really looked at my phone since you dropped me off,” Which was true - she hadn’t even thought of checking her phone during the time she was with Jug.

“Well, next time, please let me know you are okay,” he said a bit more calmly. 

Jughead started up his bike and saluted her as a way of saying goodbye, which she quickly copied.

“Hold on, was that a bike what I just heard?”

Betty bit inside of her cheek to stop herself from smiling - nothing ever escaped Kevin’s attention.

“Oh. My. God. Were you just with him?” he squealed happily.

“Yes,” Betty admitted. She looked after the taillights of his bike until he disappeared from her sight and then started heading home.

“Tell me everything!” Kevin exclaimed, “or no, hold on. I’ll be at your place in 10 minutes, then we’ll talk.” 

Before Betty managed to answer something, he hung up on her.  _ Typical Kevin. _

  
  
  


True to his word, he was at standing at her doorstep 10 minutes later.

“Don’t leave anything out,” was all he said as she closed her bedroom door behind them.

“I don’t even know where to start, Kev,” Betty chuckled. 

What did he want to hear? How they met for the first time in Wyrm? Or how he took her out after her first shift at Pop’s? Or did he want to hear how he appeared on her doorstep only 15 hours ago, completely beaten up?

“At the beginning, preferably,” he suggested, sitting himself comfortably on her bed.

“That’s not very helpful,” she said. 

“Alright, I will ask questions, is that better?” he asked and she nodded. That could work, she wouldn’t overshare this way but she would share with him everything he wanted to know.

“How did you two meet?” 

_ This is going to be a long night. _

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank y'all for reading and commenting, you can't even imagine how much I love every single one of you <3 can't wait to hear more of your thoughts!
> 
> my endless love and gratitude goes to Peyton once again, for betaing (and overall, being an amazing human)
> 
> find me on tumblr: catthecoder


	9. Chapter 9

_ It was a day like any other - hot, long and exhausting. _

_ Betty had been up and running around Pop’s since early hours of morning - the other waitress that was supposed to take over her shift at midday called in sick and Pop couldn’t get a hold of anybody, so what was Betty supposed to do? Go home and leave the old man on his own? Of course she offered to stay, to work 12-hour shift instead of a 6-hour one. That couldn’t hurt anybody, right? _

_ But it turns out that, in fact, it could. _

_ She was about to hit her 9 hour mark and she already felt like her legs were giving up on her - the diner was heaving with people. Apparently, everybody was craving a milkshake today and to be completely honest, Betty didn’t blame them - she was craving one too. She wanted to do nothing else that to sit down on the cold vinyl of the booth’s bench and enjoy a cold vanilla milkshake. _

_ The exhaustion wasn’t even the worst thing, it was the screaming she heard in her head loudening with every new customer, with their every complaint about how hot it was and how they should get their air-conditioning fixed. She tried to smile and tell them that the air-conditioning is in fact on, but it’s just too weak to cool the place down, but she quickly gave up on that, because clearly, they didn’t understand.  _

_ But she was strong and she was going to finish today’s shift, no matter what. _

_ She didn’t look up when she heard tell-tale ring of bell above the door go off, she didn’t pay any attention to the person who decided to take residence on a bar stool right in front of her.  _

_ “Hey, could I get a coffee?” he asked in a low husky voice. _

_ Betty’s head immediately shot up, her eyes meeting with a pair of blue ones. A smile spread across her face immediately and she reached for the kettle to pour him a cup. _

_ She passed it to him, not losing her smile for a second. _

_ “Thanks,” he smiled and took a sip, “I won’t bother you, I have some work to do and the Wyrm was just too busy.” _

_ “If you want any more coffee, a burger, or anything, call me,” she winked at him and quickly turned around, to go take order of a couple that just entered the diner. _

_ Her mood was immediately uplifted once Jughead was here. She knew he didn’t come for her, that he needed to work or whatever, but he could have gone anywhere and he chose Pop’s knowing very well that she was working, because she texted him complaining about the situation a few hours prior. _

_ They didn’t have plans to meet that day - Jughead mentioned having some Serpent obligations out of the town that night which he couldn’t miss, so seeing him here was a nice surprise. _

_ She took care of few more customers, before she noticed Jughead staring at her, so she stopped by him. Just a quick glance into his cup was enough to reveal he drank everything. _

_ “More coffee?” she asked, already holding the kettle in hand. _

_ “You know a way to my heart, babydoll.” He smirked and pushed his cup towards her. “Can I also get a burger?” _

_ “Sure thing. The same as always?” Betty asked, already writing down his order.  _

_ Cheeseburger, extra pickles, maple-glazed bacon instead of regular and no tomato with a side of fries and a few onion rings thrown in. _

_ “Why am I not surprised you know my order?” he chuckled. _

_ Betty just smiled - of course she knew his order. _

_ The diner was still too busy for her liking - the amount of people and constant chatter were really not helping to tame the screaming in her mind, but the thought of having only two more hours left was calming her down slightly. Only two more hours and she could go home, take a long bath and then just lay in her bed without any movement. Yeah, that would be great. _

_ Somehow, Jughead was calming her nerves - just his presence was enough to partially sooth her anxiety. Maybe he could give her a lift home after she finished her shift, if he’d still be around. The thought of her curling up to his back and hugging him closely invaded her thoughts and surprisingly calmed the screaming down a bit.  _

_ Betty placed the burger in front of him. _

_ “You are a gem,” he said smiling.  _

_ She could hear the happiness seeping through his voice and it made her heart melt. He was just too precious - like a kid who got a puppy for Christmas. _

_ He fished in his pocket for some bills, which he passed to Betty; but she just shook her head. _

_ “It’s on me,” she said. _

_ It took him only a second to realise what she was saying - even a wider smile spread on his lips after that. _

_ “Won’t you get into trouble for giving out free burgers?” he asked, with a teasing lilt in his voice. _

_ She shrugged, but she had to trap her bottom lip in between her teeth to stop herself from smiling like an idiot. Of course he remembered everything she had said the first night they met, of course he was that kind of guy. _

_ But she wasn’t mad about it. _

_ The bell above the door rang again, which this time, made Betty’s head jerk up, only to see her mother enter the diner. What was she doing here? _

_ “Hold on, I need to take care of this,” she said and headed straight towards the booth her mother had chosen without looking back at Jughead. _

_ “Mom,” she said as she stopped by her booth, “what brings you here?” A wide smile spread across Betty’s face, one that couldn’t be further from genuine. _

_ “Oh, Elizabeth. A coffee would be nice,” her mother answered, without glancing at her daughter. She took out a laptop out of her her bag and booted it up. _

_ “You think the coffee here is burnt and bitter. Why are you really here?” Betty asked. She wasn’t in a mood for her mother’s bullshit - she was exhausted, hot and the screaming in her head had slowly started again. She wanted nothing more than to finish her shift peacefully and then go home and sleep for 12 hours straight. _

_ “Well, then I’ll have a milkshake,” her mother shrugged, as if it was no big deal. _

_ “A calorie bomb?” Betty asked, holding back a chuckle.  _

_ Even if she tried, there was no way she could count all the times her mother scolded her for ordering a milkshake. It was all Alice’s worst fears in a glass - sugar and happiness. _

_ “Fine Elizabeth. I’ll have just a glass of water,” she said with a finality in her voice.  _

_ Betty didn’t say anything to that, just spun around on her heel and headed to the bar, for a glass of water for her dear mommy, who surely had some hell-raising planned. _

_ “What’s your mom doing here?” Jughead asked while Betty was waiting for the glass to fill. _

_ “My I-would-never-step-into-that-grease-hole-you-work-at mom? I have no clue, but she is up to something,” Betty rolled her eyes, “just be careful.” _

_ A small chuckle escaped Jughead’s mouth after hearing those words. _

_ “Serpents are supposed to be meeting me here in half an hour. Should I tell them not to come?” he asked. “I know how your mother gets about Southsiders.”  _

_ Betty could see the concern in his eyes; he didn’t want to cause unnecessary tension during her shift, but it wasn’t his job to prevent it.  _

_ “Don’t worry about it,” she shook her head, “Pop’s a public place - she can be here as well as Serpents. The world’s not going to end because of that.”  _

_ He nodded in understanding, returning his attention back to whatever he was working on and Betty headed towards her mom’s booth. _

_ “Here is your water, mom.” She placed the glass on the table with a little more force than she planned, but her mother didn’t even flinch. _

_ “Why was the Jones boy talking to you? Do you know who he is, Elizabeth?”  _

_ Alice didn’t even lift her eyes from the screen of her notebook and Betty was glad, as she could feel the redness spreading on her face.  _ Just breathe Betty, it’s going to be okay. Inhale and exhale.

_ “Who?” Betty asked with her most innocent smile placed firmly on her lips. _

_ “The guy by the bar. You were chatting with him the whole time you were gone,” her mother explained more. _

_ “Oh, he asked if I could turn up the air-conditioning,” Betty answered quickly, using the most frequent complaint of the day, “sadly, I couldn’t do anything to help him, as it’s on full power.” _

_ “You shouldn’t have been talking to him in the first place.” _

_ “Why? He is a customer, I was just doing my job,” Betty shrugged. She didn’t know where her mother was heading with this conversation, but nothing she could say would persuade her that anything she had done was wrong. _

_ “He isn’t just a  _ customer,  _ Elizabeth. He is a Serpent and from what I hear, he is the leader. You shouldn’t work here if it puts you in dangerous positions like this.”  _

_ Betty’s jaw dropped a little after hearing her mother’s words - dangerous positions? What? _

_ “Yeah, I imagine that I would be much safer if I would deny his request for a burger. That totally makes sense mom.” She had to use all of her power not to sound rude, but she had really hard time controlling her sarcasm. Every word her mother said just worsened the screaming in her head and she wasn’t in the mood to deal with her today. _

_ “If you want anything else, you can come to order at the bar,” Betty quickly added before her mother could remark anything about her tone. _

_ She spun on her heel and headed away, when she heard her voice. “I want him to leave.” _

_ “What?” Betty asked, turning back to face her mother.  _

_ “You heard me. I came here to have peace from your father and he is seriously disturbing it.” Her voice was as cold and calm as ever, which made screaming in Betty’s head just intensify. _

_ “Are you serious? He isn’t doing anything! He is just sitting there enjoying his food - why can’t you do the same?” she asked. “If he bothers you so much, maybe you should leave.” _

_ She was done with her mother’s behaviour, with her hatred towards Serpents, with her negativity and she was done with listening to her every single word and acting like a perfect daughter. If being with Jughead taught her anything, it was that she was brave. She was brave and she wasn’t going to let her mother be rude towards somebody she doesn’t know. And especially with that somebody being Jughead. _

_ “Elizabeth, stop causing a scene here. I feel ashamed of you already as it is.”  _

_ The screaming in Betty’s head magnified with every word that left her mother’s mouth. She tried taking deep breaths to calm herself down but she felt as if all of the air had been sucked out of the room. Her lungs started burning quickly and her palms started sweating - clear signs of a panic attack. _

Not now, please, not now and here _ , Betty thought. She opened her mouth to say something to her mother, to say anything, but her throat was too dry and her voice nowhere to be found. So she just spun on her heel and left for the bathroom without uttering a single sound.  _

_ She passed Jughead sitting by the bar, not even rising her head to take a look at him; just focusing on reaching the peace of bathroom where she would somehow hopefully breathe through this. _

_ By the time she reached the door, her head was spinning so hard she could barely walk. She tried taking deep breaths, she tried numbing the screaming down, but nothing she did made any difference. No matter how hard she shut her eyes, no matter how much she tried thinking about sunflowers and writing and everything that made her happy, she just couldn’t find a way to snap out of it. All she could focus on was her mother, not even doing anything out of ordinary, just being herself. Her, rude and disrespectful and full of prejudice, self. _

_ She leaned against the freezing wall by the bathroom’s entrance, hoping that the cold would help her keep grounded, but it wasn’t helping. She still felt like the whole world was spinning around her, so she slowly slid down into a squat, hiding her face into her palms. She didn’t want anybody to see the look of despair that almost certainly took over her face. _

_ She tried holding her breath in, knowing that quick and shallow breaths only fuel the panic, but somehow, she couldn’t seem to hold in any air. Her lungs felt as if they were burning out every time she emptied them and like she was drowning every time she tried filling them back up. There was no winning in this situation, nothing she could do to make things any better. _

_ Maybe that’s why her mother thought of her as a disappointment, that’s why she was ashamed of her - she couldn’t do anything well; she couldn’t even breathe properly. Oh, and if she only knew about all of the times Betty spent in the arms of the Serpent leader, the one that she despised so greatly, what a failure would that make her in her mother’s eyes? Probably a bigger one than she already was, if that was even possible. _

_ Why couldn’t she just tune it out? Why couldn’t she be like Polly, who never thought twice about their mother’s crap? Who moved out as soon as she celebrated her 18th birthday and now lives with her hippie boyfriend on some kind of farm? Why couldn’t Betty do the same, just get away from her unappreciative mother and ignorant father, and be happy? _

_ Where would she go? She dIdn’t have a secure plan like Polly did. Hell, she dIdn’t even have a boyfriend. Jughead might have been good to her and might hang out with her, but their relationship had a well known expiration date. They didn't have a future together, they just had this one summer and that was it. No running away to live among the hay and barn animals, no anything. Just few months of fun and then he’d move on and forget all about her. After all, she probably wasn’t the first girl who he picked up like this - being a Serpent King and looking as fine as hell was certainly an amazing lady magnet. He probably had new girl every summer, just to keep himself entertained while school was off.  _

_ Suddenly, she felt soothing warmth over her cold knee.  _ Somebody probably opened a door somewhere _ , she thought to herself. Nothing out of the ordinary, nothing to think twice about. _

_ “Betts,”  _

_ Okay, that certainly wasn’t just a wind. She tried focusing on her surroundings, feeling the warmth on her knee, hearing the regular breaths right next to her face. Feeling the tingling of air on her bare skin. Smelling a faint hint of tobacco and leather. _

_ “Betts, baby, I’m here.” _

_ She felt the screaming calming down with every word he said; his voice soothing her mind, soothing her senses.. She felt overwhelmed by the whole day - the temperature was just unbearable, customers were rude and her mother was… well, her mother. It was all too much, all too loud, all too messy.  _

_ But then, here he was. His hand gently placed on her knee, thumb drawing small circles on her exposed skin. Small movements of warm air tingled her on the cheeks every time he exhaled. But that warmth was nothing like the one inside of the steaming diner - it didn’t make her sweat or want to bathe in a cold milkshake. It reminded her of warmth of her bed, when she covered herself with a fluffy blanket and sipped on fresh tea while reading a good book. It reminded her of the brownies she always used to bake with Polly when they were young. It reminded her of safety, of home, of love. _

_ She slowly opened her eyes, blinking few times in the process to adjust to dimly lit back corridor. It took her few seconds to be able to make out the outline of a squatting figure next her, and then another few to focus on the details of his face.  _

_ Fear. It was all over his face, in his huge eyes, slightly dropped jaw and shivering lips. What on earth could he be terrified of? Did she scare him? Was she such a wreck that she would scare off the only person she cared for? A person who understood her and brought out the best in her? Somebody around whom she could be herself, without fear of being judged and ridiculed? Without any pretence? _

_ “Are you okay?” he whispered before she could delve deeper into her thoughts (which would surely lead her to another panic attack).  _

_ She slightly nodded, not trusting her voice to be strong enough and not break mid-sentence. _

_ “I heard you arguing with your mom and then you ran here-“ he paused, moving his hand to gently palm her cheek, “- I was worried about you.” _

_ She felt his words in every part of her body - he was worried about her. He saw that she was distraught and he was worried about her. He came here because he wanted to make sure she was okay. He cared about her. _

_ “Thank you,” Betty whispered, her voice sounding a bit more rough and suffocated than usual, “for coming.” _

_ “Anytime you need me,” he said back with a smile, placing a soft kiss on her forehead. If Betty wasn’t calm before, the warm feeling of his lips on her crown was enough to send all of her anxiety away. _

_ “Actually, could you do one more thing for me?” Betty asked. _

_ She still had another two hours of her shift left but she was in no state to finish them - she just wanted to go home and sleep this hell of a day off. But the idea of walking or having to take a ride with her mom was just too much for her to handle right now. _

_ So when Jughead agreed to drop her home, she placed a happy kiss onto his lips as a thank you. When instead of driving off after they reached her house he offered to come upstairs with her, to help her get ready to bed, she accepted immediately. _

_ It wasn’t until long after that, when she was finally falling asleep curled up to his side with his hands tightly wrapped around her, that she realised he skipped on his obligations to Serpents just to make sure she was okay. _

_ Just for her. _

  
  


_ *** _

  
  


Betty was nervous.

It took her a while to realise, but once she did, she couldn’t get it off her mind.

Her palms were freezing and sweaty the whole day, she couldn’t properly focus on anything and although she kept trying to dull screaming in her mind, it just wasn’t stopping.

It was probably karma - for laughing at Jug about being nervous yesterday. 

Yeah, it must have been that, she couldn’t have been nervous for real.

She didn’t have any reason not to be confident - she knew Jughead. She loved him and he loved her back, so why the sudden outburst of anxiety? Was it because it was a  _ date _ ? Because they weren’t just hanging out anymore, but because they were going to be official together?

Was it the label that scared her? The fact, that he would be her  _ boyfriend _ ? Or maybe just the fact that he would be  _ hers _ once again?

_ Deep breaths Betty, it’ll be alright. _

The world wasn’t going to end just because the two of them were going on a date. It would go on normally, as if nothing had happened. Everybody would just go on with their lives, not realising how much hers was turning around. 

The familiar roar of engine was what finally got her out of her thoughts - he was here.

“Hey,” she smiled as he stopped the bike. 

He was wearing his favourite denim jacket and a nice blue shirt underneath it, which really surprised Betty. She knew he meant it seriously with this date, but  _ that _ seriously? Suddenly, she was more aware of her favourite worn-out jeans and plain white blouse topped with her casual autumn coat. She could have gone with a nicer top and a skirt probably. Maybe even more make-up wouldn’t have hurt…

“Hey. You look beautiful,” he said and with a press of his lips onto her cheek all of her doubts vanished.

“Thanks,” she giggled shyly. “You don’t look so bad yourself.” 

_ What was wrong with her? Why was she acting like a stupid thirteen-year-old? Couldn’t she just focus and not freak out?  _

She would probably have gone down the rabbit hole of anxiety if it weren’t for Jughead’s voice, pulling her out. “This is for you,” he whispered, pulling out a solitary sunflower from god-knows-where.

A smile immediately spread across Betty’s face, erasing all of the stress and doubts - everything was going to be okay. They were finally together and they would get through everything and that’s all that mattered.

“Thanks,” Betty replied, taking the flowers from his hand and pressing a quick peck on his cheek. A soft blush quickly spread all over the spot which was occupied by her lips just seconds ago.

“Are you ready for our date, m’lady?” Jughead asked, offering Betty his hand, which she willingly took. 

“I’ve never been more ready,” she answered with a wide smile, not being able to contain her happiness.

In the eyes of any ordinary stranger, they would have seemed like any other couple on a date - strolling casually around the Fox Forest and Sweetwater River, talking about anything and everything that had happened in their lives during the time they were apart. Hand in a hand, huge smiles on their faces and laughs echoing all around them. Sweet words whispered among two kids, sweet promises of a future full of happiness together. 

But this was Riverdale and there were no ordinary strangers; because in order to be a stranger, one would have to lack the knowledge of their circumstances. 

And there was not a single person who wouldn’t recognise the iconic blonde ponytail of the perfect girl-next-door or the beanie-shaped crown of the Serpent leader.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for all of your comments on the last chapter, i love every single one of you who shows support for this story in one way or another
> 
> betad by the lovely Peyton_0727 (@peaceblessingspeyton)
> 
> find me on tumblr: catthecoder


End file.
